


It's just some unspoken thing

by DaniTsubasa



Series: Guardians of the Galaxy [36]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies)
Genre: Childbirth, Childhood, Crying, F/M, Family, Friendship, Hope, Hugs, Kissing, Love, Parent-Child Relationship, Prison, Sadness, Suffering, happiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:53:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 55,280
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24154615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaniTsubasa/pseuds/DaniTsubasa
Summary: After years of looking for Gamora after Thanos' defeat, even Peter feels his hope falter, and he begins to believe that he has lost her again, for the second time, even though not even the New Corps has discovered what happened to the Gamora's from 2014. But a strange and sudden event on any given morning can change everything that the Guardians believed until now.
Relationships: Gamora/Peter Quill
Series: Guardians of the Galaxy [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739413
Comments: 7
Kudos: 35





	1. He loved us

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to give a special thanks to my friend Rebeca Cristina, who, in addition to always giving an opinion and giving me many ideas and feedback, accidentally gave rise to the idea of this fanfic. xD She had a five-minute dream of Guardians of the Galaxy, and I created the story out of it.
> 
> Some of my Guardians of the Galaxy one-shots may be connected to this fanfic, although it won't affect your understanding of the story if you haven't read it. But if you want to read them, just check out the collection's previous works.
> 
> It's because of this fanfic that I haven't been posting one-shots of the Guardians most often, although I still have a few on the idea to write. As this story has many chapters I spent these months dedicating myself to it, to try to avoid delay in the posts.
> 
> Guardians of the Galaxy and their characters don't belong to me. I leave the credits to Marvel and James Gunn.
> 
> *The cover fanart belongs to @fennethianell. In my opinion, Starmora's best fanarts are hers. ♥ ♥ ♥
> 
> *This same story was put by me on Nyah Fanfiction.

****

Ayesha looked startled when her guards entered the lobby carrying the only female member of the Guardians of the Galaxy they knew. The zehoberi was in handcuffs and looked confused and furious, and most curious, she looked at them as if she didn't know them. Ayesha couldn't understand how the only one in her opinion who had any judgment and respect among all of them could try to invade their kingdom for whatever it was.

“What is this about?”

“She invaded our surroundings,” a guard replied. “She was taken by surprise by the unmanned ships when we saw her on the cameras.”

The queen looked seriously at the zehoberi who looked her back without even blinking.

“I see that one of you saved me the trouble of looking for and exterminating you. What I don't understand is why you, the only one who seems to have any sense among that band of creatures without education and intelligence, tried to invade and plunder our premises, again.”

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Gamora spoke coolly in a defiant tone.

Ayesha stood up, at first not saying and doing anything.

“Make sure this isn't a trap. She fights very well and is very skilled to be contained so easily. The others may be hiding, waiting for some distraction from us,” she finally said.

Some guards left the throne room and spread out across the palace. Gamora looked in the direction they went, having no idea what the golden woman was talking about or what could have happened in the past. She had no more purpose or nowhere to go, all she needed now was the resources to get enough units to find a place to live as far away as possible. Her ship had stopped working right on this planet. And she was willing to negotiate for work or for pieces that were still of use, before being attacked, contained and arrested without explanation. But after reflecting on the words of the woman in front of her, Gamora drew some conclusions, remembering everything that Nebula had told her. Was the woman referring to the Guardians of the Galaxy? Had they stolen the kingdom in the past? Nebula didn't have time to give her so many details, including this one.

“Madam, the strangest thing is that... She seemed to be unfamiliar with our facilities. When we asked if she wanted to steal the anulax batteries, she said she didn't know what we were talking about and that it didn't interest her.”

Ayesha looked deeply at the woman. The brown eyes didn't look at her as the last time, they seemed lost, despite the ferocity they tried to demonstrate. And she wondered if the mass extinction event that took place years ago and the sudden return of the missing had anything to do with it. Gamora didn't really remember them. There was no way to speculate what had happened to the others and why she was alone, but this only made her want to hunt them down more than before, she was just hoping that all the confusion generated by the return of the missing would stabilize in her kingdom, especially now that _he_ was ready. She could sentence Gamora to death here and now, but it would be too easy. She wanted to end everyone together, and if possible, make her remember what happened first.

“Madam...” one of the guards said. “She has a ship. Or had. Something went wrong and she fell some distance from the palace. That's how we found her. She said she was interested in negotiating for work, or for the ship.”

Ayesha was silent as she reflected.

“Fate always gives us what we deserve sooner or later... We have bigger interests than that. Take her to one of our most fortified cells, in the same prison block where we left her sister the last time they were here. It's the sensible thing to do now.”

Gamora tried to fight, as she normally would. Ayesha smiled when she saw her being taken forcibly towards the same prison where Nebula had been locked up, and more questions exploded in her head. What would Nebula have done to stop there and be arrested?

“Madam, what do you intend to do?” Her young assistant asked quietly as she approached.

“This I'll resolve soon. We should talk to _him_ about it. She's the first target he'll meet.”

******

Adam was outside the palace, next to the giant container of anulax batteries, watching the countless stars in the night sky. His creator's footsteps reached his ears, and he turned to face her when she approached.

“Very attentive as always, this is good - Ayesha smiled - I hope you are well remembered of everything we talked about, because tonight you'll meet your first target. We'll not eliminate her yet. For some reason she lost her memory, and I would like her to recover it before our sentence.”

“Are the Guardians of the Galaxy here?” The golden man's beautiful voice asked.

“Only one of them. The only one who seems to have any notion about anything, before losing her memory. Even without a memory she doesn't trust us, but you are good at talking to people. I want you to talk to her, find out if she remember anything, and especially, where the others are. They may be after her, if she saw them she must know where they are. Or it could be a trap.”

“Yes, madam.”

******

Gamora was sitting on the cold floor of her cell, leaning against the wall and for now just wanting to rest and then find a way to escape during the night. In addition to everything that had happened on Earth, and the immense confusion her mind was on now, all she didn't need was a prison. She looked at the empty cells outside and it wasn't difficult to imagine the sad reason why they were empty. Perhaps yours would soon be too, or at least that seemed to be what the Sovereigns expected.

Heavy steps, although calm and cautious, echoed in the corridor, it was a man, and considerably larger than the pattern she had seen in others when she arrived, even among the guards. They had taken out her sword and small arms, but it wouldn't be difficult to kill him with her bare hands if necessary. She retreated a little to the bottom of the cell, preparing to react. But the golden eyes that looked at her this time were completely different from everyone else. No coldness, anger, pride, arrogance or even hatred as she saw it in Ayesha's eyes. His gaze was calm, gentle and she would risk saying that even kind. Gamora stared deeply at him for falsehood, and began to think that the Earth had affected her more than expected when she found none.

The man was big and strong, which reminded her of the last one she had seen like that, at least the last one that caught her eye when she fled Earth at the end of the battle. Peter Quill. He accidentally activated old danger triggers in her mind, and she hit him, she thought he was stupid. But the look on his face when he was on the ground hit her, he was really hurt by her attitude, his green eyes were filled with a pain so deep that Gamora regretted it, despite not having helped him up. And it wasn't the pain of the blow she had given him, his soul was in pieces. And she wanted to understand that so badly, but nothing else made enough sense for her to stay and find out, not even Nebula's friendship.

“My name is Adam,” the newcomer said, placing the bench he carried in front of the cell and sitting down.

His voice was soft and beautiful, though no less masculine for that reason. His wavy hair was combed to the side, falling over his right eye. His clothes were a mixture of gold and navy blue, and seemed to indicate a certain level of importance.

“You don't seem to remember how you met us a few years ago.”

Gamora remained silent, hoping to extract whatever information she could before speaking. She had already been reckless enough in a single day.

“But it also seems that you do not remember your companions,” he continued. “Do you know where they are now?”

She reflected. The Guardians of the Galaxy weren't bad, they helped to end Thanos after all. Nebula described them as silly, idiotic and clumsy, but they were some of the kindest and most trusted people she had ever met. She also told her how secretly she was grateful to their leader for keeping her away from Thanos, and told her quickly about how Peter welcomed her into the crew and the ship and cared for her and loved her more than anything else, even if now she felt nothing back. She wouldn't give them away for anything.

Adam sighed, seeming to give up the topic about the Guardians and still looking at her with the same kindness as before.

“A very strange thing happened a few years ago. I wasn't here yet, but I was told it was terrifying. People started to disappear, literally turning to dust. We discovered years ago that living beings are made of the same material as star dust, not only here, but also those of other planets. I wondered if they were stars again, but I looked at several photos and star maps, and there didn't seem to be more stars in the sky than before.”

Gamora was touched by his innocence, and surprised that an adult thought that way. Sovereigns were indeed very peculiar, or that was a foolish trap he expected her to fall into. However, the entire universe had been affected by Thanos, and it made sense that the Sovereigns were on the list.

“I've heard a lot of sad stories about it since I was born. I also had strange dreams about a sunny place full of people I don't know, including some sovereigns. I never imagined that there were so many different ones out there. I've never been very far from our planet. I don't know if they were dreams or memories, but I think I would remember it well if they were real. And one day, suddenly, everyone came back out of nowhere. And the number of people on the planet has doubled, which has caused a lot of disorder. Fortunately we are managing to organize everyone again, faster than on other planets as far as we know. Do you remember anything about it where you were?”

Gamora remained silent for a few seconds, assessing her possibilities and deciding to join his game. She wouldn't achieve anything if she remained silent forever.

“Thanos. He was always a psychopath obsessed with destroying half the life of the entire universe. Fortunately, a group of people managed to reverse this, although some damage has remained irreparable.”

“Including your memory?”

Gamora took note when he returned to the initial topic of the conversation, but she decided to take the risk to continue.

“There was a war against Thanos. He was killed on Earth. I was the only one he took there that came out alive. But I don't have the memories lived with the Guardians you're looking for. I was told that Thanos took me from them and killed me in Vormir. But... I'm not the same person who was here as you said.”

Adam thought... He might still be inexperienced about a lot of simple knowledge, but the complexes the Sovereign made him study. Something very unlikely occurred to him. He had read about it, but no one had ever been able to do it. The only one capable of time travel would be the last of the magicians. Adam didn't know his name, but he was known as Doctor Strange. From what he had read about him, he was a man of integrity, he would never take someone wicked to start a war anywhere. Then somehow someone else had found a way to do it, perhaps trying to reverse the deaths caused by Thanos. And it had worked. Maybe Gamora hadn't suffered memory damage, just...

“You came from another reality. Or some time in the past before everything you've lived through.”

She was silent at first, fearing she had said more than was safe. The man outside was smart, and that could bring her down. But all she had to do was continue and see where this conversation would go.

“That's why you don't remember. You never really were here. It came by accident,” Adam answered for her.

“I don't think that it makes a difference in what they intend to do to me,” she said.

“They want to kill the Guardians of the Galaxy, but I read a lot about them. They don't look like bad people. I found out that one of them has a compulsion to steal things he doesn't need, he has a record of it on Kylin. It must have been him who tried to steal our batteries. I talked about it with our queen, but she seems obsessed with revenge. And I can feel your soul, you are confused and terrified, but you aren't a bad person.”

Gamora looked at him curiously at the revelation. He could feel souls...

“You’re a Sovereign, you shouldn't have any feelings, how could you feel souls?”

“I'm not sure. But I feel in you an energy very similar to something I already know. I can try to help you. I don't know if they would release you, but I don't think it would be right to execute you.”

“I don't need your pity, I don't even know you.”

“My name is Adam Warlock. They say that they created me as a better version of everything that the Sovereigns have already done, and for great purposes. But I always thought that the universe has more to offer than just being born to serve a single purpose. Now you know more about me.”

“That energy you speak... What is it?”

“I'm not sure. But I think you know, and it's something that makes you sad.”

Gamora had no more doubts. He was talking about the Soul Stone. How could the Sovereigns have gained access to this? Even more during the impact caused by Thanos? She had never seen the jewel, but from the stories she knew, she imagined how it should work.

“If you let me feel, maybe I know how to help you, ”Adam told her, kneeling in front of her and extending his hand through the bars of the cell.”

“Why would I trust you?”

“Because now I'm the only one willing to help you on an entire planet of people who consider you an enemy.”

Gamora thought as she sat closer to him, still not holding his hand. Thanos was dead and she had nothing for her outside. There were people waiting for her, but she saw no point in following them. There wasn't much to lose. First she had lost everything in her life, which now lost the only meaning left with Thanos' death, which was to stop him.

“I can feel you here, and somewhere far away. I can hear screams and tears of despair and sadness.”

Gamora was startled when she realized that Adam had grabbed her wrist without her consent, and that his golden eyes had been filled with golden light, which reminded her instantly of the woman they called Captain Marvel on Earth.

“What you...?!”

Before she finished her sentence, the light increased, becoming so strong that it was impossible to see anything else. Gamora must have passed out for some time, because when she woke up she felt like she was waking up from a dream. The cell of the Sovereigns was gone, and she was standing in an endless ocean. It was orange and shallow, the entire sky was also filled with orange light. Someone was crying in the distance, and the voice was very familiar. Gamora was amazed at how long she took to recognize her own voice, and the completely meaningless situation that was going on.

“I said I could hear someone crying.”

She winced in shock when she heard Adam's voice beside her, his eyes had returned to normal.

“What place is this?! What kind of hallucinogen do you and your people use?!”

“None. And I think we're a long way from there now. The energy I told you about, it brought us here. I'm not sure if this is really happening, or if it's just a dream, but this place is very familiar. I'm sure I've been here before,” he said walking towards the crying person.

Gamora had no choice but to follow him, managing to better define who he was as they approached. Perhaps only her improvements were responsible for preventing her brain from being short-circuited at that time. She saw herself standing before them. She was wearing different clothes, but it was her.

“They shouldn't have died.”

“Who...?” She asked slowly still in shock. “There’s no one else here.”

“I feel another life inside it.”

Gamora was speechless, she felt her temperature fluctuate and her heart was racing. Was she pregnant?! Had she died pregnant?! She immediately connected the dots and thought about what Nebula told her about Peter Quill, and realized that they had gone even further than her sister had time to clarify. Had she been involved with him to that extent? Family, and a son? Was that what Thanos had taken from her? She felt her blood boil as she hated the Titan once more, no matter how much she didn't want to live with the Guardians now. And finally she managed to believe everything that Nebula told her about the Earthman, because she would never, ever, give herself up to someone like that if she didn't trust him with her life.

“Why are we here?” She asked Adam.

“I wanted to know what that energy was, and it brought us here.”

The crying woman looked up to see them when they finally came to stand beside her. How long has she been crying alone? Had the five years that Nebula reported passed had been the same for her?

Her eyes widened and she was as amazed as her younger version. What had Thanos done?! The only explanation for this is that he had managed to travel back in time and kill her again. She recognized the clothes she was wearing, she was younger. Had Thanos destroyed her past? Who was the Golden Man? How had a Sovereign become a victim of the Soul Stone?

“What happened?” She asked as best as she could with a voice stunned by crying. “Where did you come from, and why?” She asked her younger version. “What else did he do?”

“Exactly what he told us, but they managed to reverse what he did. Although not everything,” she shortened the story, not wanting her to cry any more or think she had died in vain.

Gamora looked at her younger version, immediately noticing and remembering how much she was afraid of people before she ran away.

“Didn’t you meet him, did you?”

“Not as you expect,” she replied. “I'm sorry.”

A few more silent tears streamed down her face, and Gamora couldn't explain how strange the situation was, but the young Gamora knew exactly what she was thinking.

“You haven’t lost your future. Changes in time don’t occur as almost everyone thought.”

“There is no point in preserving my future if I’m no longer in it. Who are you?” She asked Adam.

“I was raised by the Sovereigns as a weapon of vengeance against the Guardians of the Galaxy, but we never found them. I told my queen that it was probably the fault of the strange animal that accompanied them, and that we don't have to kill them all, but she didn't listen.”

The two newcomers exchanged a look at the older woman's growing confusion.

“Look... A lot has happened on Earth. Thanos is dead. And his entire army. I was the only one spared.”

“What epoch are you from?”

“2014. We were on a normal and terrible day like any other else when we discovered the existence of a second Nebula, from 2023. Thanos kidnapped her and exchanged the two so that ours would sabotage the plans to undo the snap. But yours told me everything that would have happened if I hadn't been interrupted before running away that day, at least everything she had time to tell me. It's a very long story, but we won.”

Gamora took a deep breath, not bothering to contain her tears, and took the younger woman's hand. Both could have passed out with the immense amount of information that suddenly appeared in their memories when the memories merged. She wept for everything that happened after Thanos killed her, for the mad Titan's army turning to dust, for Peter's wounded look on the floor before the younger woman who was now before her, for the confusion and loneliness she felt when she decided to leave Earth at the end of the battle, for the destruction caused on Earth, by the man for whom everyone knelt, even Peter, who couldn't say whether or not he was alive.

The youngest felt her eyes sting, and let the tears fall for what she felt. At first it was fear. Love, affection, friendship, care, the purest passion of the man she attacked on Earth, all coming at once after a life of pain was terrifying, but each memory that came from everything she didn't live touched her heart more and more, and suddenly she wished she had been wrapped up in his arms so many times, had received all the affection that he dedicated to her every day, had lived every moment of joy with the other Guardians, had seen Groot grow and treated her as a mother, and even being cared for by Peter as the most precious thing in the world on the probable night they conceived a child. Her heart sped up with emotion when she felt the baby's life hit her with even more force than the memories she saw. The two pressed their foreheads together and wept together.

“He loves us more than his own life.”

“I know... Now I know.”

None of them cared about explanations at the time, or why Adam had joined them there, but it was the first moment of peace and comfort they had had in years. Adam took them both by the arm so softly that they took too long to notice the golden light taking everything around again. Gamora didn't know what was going on, but her only fear was the baby. She thought she would carry him forever in the Soul Stone, and she didn't mind doing it, but all she wanted was for whatever was going on not to take him from her.

The ground beneath her feet disappeared, everything went dark, the gentle ocean breeze stopped blowing, and she was alone now. She forced her eyes to open, feeling the tears still running down her face. Was she in a cell?! Where?! And why?! Her vision was blurred, but she could see some things. The golden man opened the lock and was suddenly kneeling beside her on the floor. He picked her up and stood with her, laying her on what must have been a prison stone bench. Gamora wanted to protest, she wanted to get away from him, she wanted explanations, she wanted to make sure her baby was okay, she wanted Peter! She put her hands on her stomach even though her short gestation time didn't make it possible to notice anything, and she never wanted so much to have Mantis around to tell her what was going on inside her.

“What... Did you do? What...”

“Keep calm. I won’t hurt you. Your body needs to adjust.”

“Who are you? Where did she go?”

“I'm Adam Warlock. We can talk later. Take a rest. You need.”

Gamora struggled with fatigue, but her body won, and Adam was the last thing she saw.


	2. Waking up in a nightmare

_Gamora felt tears flow from her eyes to the floor when she tried in vain to move with the terrible pain she felt. Blood dripped from her lips and she cried out when she forced her body to turn to the side. A pool of blood started to form below her and she clenched her teeth and eyes when she felt a strong and very painful contraction in her belly, only then realizing the source of the bleeding, which became more intense afterwards. She wept with pain and despair. This couldn't be happening! It was unacceptable that it be so. It was cruel that she found out like that!_

_“We had a baby...” she murmured almost without a voice to herself, emitting another groan of pain._

_She was pregnant! And she hadn't even told him. Various scenarios of what would happen if they both knew crossed her mind, some hopeful, others even worse. She would take her hatred for Thanos, now incredibly greater, wherever she went when her eyes closed. She knew she wouldn't escape this. Even if her family was here. Even if they took her at the speed of light to the nearest medical center. That was the end._

_Gamora cried. And the only time she cried so much in her life was when she lost her parents. No words that came to her mind would be enough to define the kind of terrible monster she saw on the titan. She had never been a mother or lived with one to know details, but she knew her body. So much blood and so much pain, and with such strong contractions, it couldn't be anything other than an abortion._

_"My little baby...” she murmured between tears._

_The zehoberi continued to cry, and decided that she wouldn't stop herself from doing so, the last thing she was able to do in the last moments of her life. One of the first things she said to Peter when they accepted themselves as a team and formed the Guardians of the Galaxy was that she would be grateful to die among friends. And that was all she wanted now, her family was the only thing she wanted. She wanted him!_

_"Peter...”_

_She cried despite the movement making her pain worse, making it difficult to breathe, and the total inability to change anything. One day she had believed that everyone was born for a reason. And that was hers? Born to die like that after everything else that she had been through? And taking her son's life with her? However, Gamora was still grateful. She found Peter and won a family. She had back the ability to sing, dance, smile, cry, have fun and live in harmony with all of them. She was a foster mother, and now a biological mother, despite losing everything again in the end._

_Tired, she cringed as best as the pain allowed, trying to relieve it and get rid of the cold, which only got worse with the snowflakes that chilled the planet. Her head was heavy and even the urge to cry was gone. The excruciating pain seemed to subside when her eyes started to close involuntarily. In a last flash of conscience, Gamora felt all the hatred she had for Thanos to burn in her chest one last time, but the last thing on her mind was him. In the end there was only sadness. Maybe if she slept she could dream, maybe that way the last sensations of her life wouldn't be terrible feelings and pain. Gamora focused on Peter, she could remember the last time they slept hugging each other. And only that comforted her. She remember the soft and lovely touch of his warm hands as he hugged her, kissed her forehead and said how beautiful she was and how much he loved her. She clung to it until she had no idea about anything around her._

_******_

The Guardians all ran to their leader's bedroom upon hearing noises, something that had become common after the war on Earth. It wasn't uncommon to them wake up in the middle of the night with all kinds of nightmares, especially Peter, Groot and Rocket, especially about Gamora or the snap of Thanos.

“Did he get hurt and hide in the last mission?” Nebula asked to crouch next to Peter, who moaned and was panting. “He could be with an infected wound.”

Mantis sat on the edge of the bed and touched the Earthman's forehead. Her antennae flashed and she faced the others.

“There is nothing wrong with his body. But he’s extremely disturbed and anguished in his emotions.”

“He seems to be in pain,” Drax said. “He's visibly suffering.”

“I think we all still are,” Rocket commented.

The Star Lord looked terrified, tears streamed from his eyes and the messy sheets showed how much he had been agitated before they entered.

“I am Groot.”

Everyone looked at the teenager, saying nothing. And they felt a twinge of sadness when they silently agreed with him. Perhaps Peter would never fully recover from Gamora's loss. After she fled from Earth at the end of the battle, they were in no way able to find her. That was weeks ago. They had tracked Xandar, all the places they knew, and even the planet of the Sovereigns, as well as places they had never been, and the search always ended without results.

As much as they liked Thor, everyone was grateful that the Thunder God decided to leave them for a while to compose himself in Xandar and help with the reconstruction of the planet. The rivalry between him and Peter, despite how stupid everyone thought it was, would certainly make the Earthman even more disturbed now if the avenger was in the bedroom.

“Wake him up,” Rocket said.

Mantis looked at him doubtfully, fearing that Peter would wake up even more nervous, but it wouldn't improve anything to see him in that state without taking any action. The young woman touched her brother's forehead again, trying to wake him up little by little, which didn't prevent Peter from coming back shaken. He almost screamed and opened his eyes wide, shivering with fright, his breath still very fast, his jaw quivering for an instant and more tears streamed from his eyes. He sat up looking terrified, and almost didn't seem to recognize them for a moment. The Earthman got up and ran out of the bedroom, walking randomly around the ship, clearly disturbed.

“Peter!” Mantis called to him when they all followed after him, who was aimlessly entering several rooms of the ship.

“She... She was...”

“Who she?” Rocket asked, getting Peter to keep his eyes on him for a few seconds before looking around again.

“He killed both…”

Nebula exchanged a look with Rocket when they both suspected what Peter was talking about.

“Tell me what you saw. And we’ll help you,” Nebula spoke calmly to the leader.

“She was pregnant. She was pregnant... My Gamora... None of us noticed...”

Everyone looked at each other in shock when Peter started walking again, this time to the deck. He looked at the top of the stairs, looking more confused than ever, and changed his direction again.

The rest of the Guardians found him back in the bedroom, sitting on the floor and leaning on the bed, his face hidden in one arm as he cried.

“I am Groot?”

Rocket looked at his son, seeing his eyes fill with tears, and felt his heart turn over at the situation.

“He dreamed, Groot. We have no guarantee that this may have happened. Well... we have. But we'll never know if she was or not. He was the most affected by it, his head will torment him with all kinds of things. You dreamed it, didn't you, Pet?”

Peter lifted his head and looked at Rocket for a long time, completely confused.

“She really... You were really... Is this serious?” The raccoon asked with a seriousness that he rarely had.

“I don't know,” Peter replied in a voice so low it sounded like someone else speaking. “I don't know. I don't know. It was too real... I saw... I saw everything... I saw her bleeding. Alone, in the dark and in the cold... It hurt a lot.”

“Buddy,” Drax sat on the floor in front of Peter, resting his hand on his shoulder. “You need to calm down. Do you want us to make tea or some of those sleeping pills?”

“I don't think that it'll help,” Nebula told him, her voice making it clear how much she was affected now.

“I saw her die,” Peter spoke softly. “I felt her pain. There was so much blood... She cried so much, so much,” he said as he trembled and finally looked up. “She died alone. She found out that way.”

Everyone exchanged glances again and Peter saw Nebula's eyes well up with tears, however much she tried to hide. The fact that Peter was talking about a nightmare did nothing to change the deep and endless pain he was feeling, and none of them felt lighter than he did now. The Earthman's green eyes were red and more lost than they had ever seen. Peter buried his face in one hand when he started to cry again.

Mantis sat on the floor and hugged his brother from behind, her face was filled with Peter's pain, and she did nothing to suppress the tears that escaped her eyes. Nebula did the same and rested a hand on his knee. Rocket sat on the bed across from him, and Groot beside him. The teenager hid his face in his hands when he also started to cry, and not even Rocket's pat on his back comforted him. The brilliance of tears slowly took hold of all of them, and they stayed that way for the rest of the night, watching over their shared pain.

******

Gamora took a deep breath when she opened her eyes for a moment. It was dark, silent and cold. She still felt stunned and couldn't imagine where she was. She remembered the infinite ocean of the soul stone, and she had no idea how she got out of there. This couldn't have been just a nightmare, she had spent too much time there, and it had been too real for that.

“Peter...”

In the absence of an answer, she found that she wasn't in any familiar place, he would never leave her side if he were there. She searched her mind and gradually the memories came, and the pain and sadness along with them. She was confused when she remembered the strange encounter she had at the soul stone, who knows how long ago. So Thanos was dead. So it couldn't be he who put her in that place. She couldn't remember everything, but she insisted on not forgetting it.

She opened her eyes and studied the dark gray walls of the prison, and the other empty cells outside. She was lying on a stone bench, there was a pillow under her head, and a blanket over her. Why were she here? And why would her jailers have the compassion to care about her well-being? Where did her life go? And what parallel world was she in?

She sat up slowly and stood up, realizing that she had none of her weapons and that she was wearing different clothes than she remembered, she was wearing the same clothes as when she met Peter in 2014. She tried to see outside and realized she was alone. A long corridor stretched between the cells, and she couldn't make out where the entrance or exit was.

She sat down again and her mind became clearer, finally sending a shock to her heart. Gamora's eyes widened and her hands went to her stomach in despair.

“My baby!”

She couldn't have dreamed. She had died pregnant in Vormir. What if they took him from her?! What had they done to her and the other Guardians?! Her heart sped up and she tried to think of a way to get someone's attention. She wanted and needed answers!

She located the lock, but it was open with fingerprints, probably from the person who arrested her. She kicked the prison bars without having any effect to bend them, but making enough noise to echo for a few seconds. She sat down and tried to reassure herself. If she was still pregnant it wouldn't be good for her or the baby.

Moments later she heard a door being opened in the distance, and familiar footsteps approaching her cell shortly after. It was him, Adam... He had a surname that she couldn't remember.

“You woke up... Remember who I am?”

“What do you want from me? What did you do to me?!” She questioned staring at him fiercely.

“I talked about it. You must remember little by little. I didn't even know I was able to do what I did, I didn't imagine you’d come back so stunned.”

“You have three seconds to say what you did to me before I crossed these bars and sent you all the way to another world.”

“Anything. I said you passed out and were still sleeping. I was the one who brought the pillow and the blanket, you seemed to feel cold. I don't know if what happens to you affects the other life you carry, I thought I should give you a minimum of comfort, although our leader didn't like it.”

Adam followed her thoughts when Gamora looked down at the stomach. It was there that he felt strong and luminous pulses of life within her. She breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes for a moment.

“You’re stil...”

“I’m pregnant,” she responded by remembering the memories that were given to her by the younger Gamora, which made it clear that Adam was a little ignorant about normal things for others, curiously she could only remember what she saw from the moment she met Adam.

A time of silence followed.

“I don't know what you want from me. But if something is done to my child, I swear that I’ll kill each of you with my own hands.”

She spoke calmly, but Adam didn’t ignore her murderous look.

“I don't doubt that,” he replied.

“Where are the others”

“Your friends? We expected you to tell us.”

“I was taken from them and I never saw them again. How did you get to where I was?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happened to her?”

Adam was silent for a while, seeming to think and seek answers.

“I think... that you are now the same person. You live in her, and she in you. Weren't you already the same person before? I deduced that you are from different times, but I confess that I remain very confused about it.”

“This galaxy... Is it Andromeda?”

“Yes.”

“What year are we in?”

“2023.”

Gamora thought... Yes... She was on the planet of the sovereigns. They had also suffered the Thanos snap consequences. He had done it. But someone reverses what he did somehow. Now she remembered! And who knows how her youngest version was in the future, and was the only one spared from something that happened on Earth.

“Where are the others?!”

“I really don’t know. We're trying to find out.”

“Why did you bring me back?!”

“I didn't even understand what I did. I was born just two months ago. The planet was in chaos when I arrived. My creator says that I'm capable of much more than anyone else. But I'm not sure why. I didn't know I could do that. I don't know what that place is.”

“You don't have to worry about that. It doesn't even stay in that galaxy... If your goal is to destroy us, why did you bring me back? This doesn't look like something an enemy would do.”

“She wanted you to remember everything. I didn't know how I was going to solve this, it happened by accident.”

“Who she?!”

“My creator.”

“Who created you ?!”

He was thinking about what to say when new steps caught the attention of the two, this time lighter, and apparently feminine. Gamora felt even more anger and apprehension when Ayesha herself stopped beside Adam and looked at her.

“Finally you woke up. This time with all your memories I hope.”


	3. Cruel reality

“Where are the others?!” Gamora asked in a murderous tone, refusing to shout and let them know how nervous she was.

“It is what we expected you to tell us. During all the chaos that has been established in the galaxy for years, including on this planet, there has been no news from you. The great Guardians of the Galaxy, who were supposed to fly from planet to planet helping and saving people, disappeared, not showing up even after the destruction in Xandar where you practically claim to be your headquarters.”

Gamora took a deep breath as best she could without they being aware of it, feeling her blood boil with rage. She could say a thousand things in response to the offense of the queen of sovereigns, but knowing Ayesha, that would only make her more confident. And the reasons that prevented them from helping Xandar and all the rest of their galaxy and also the galaxy where Earth was located had already been cruel enough to all of them so that Gamora would now enumerate them and only get more suffering in return.

“If your planet was in chaos, you must imagine that you weren't the only ones affected, and that this war wasn't just in our galaxy - she replied calmly, refraining from providing any further details.”

“It seems that way,” the sovereign replied, staying a long time in silence without looking away from Gamora. “The others were also affected to the point of reappearing unmemorial like you? Or is this just another opportunity to rob us?!”

“Your paranoia in no way illustrates anything that has happened to us.”

“You seem to be the only sensible being among that bunch of beings... devoid of ethics. Our newest creation doesn't find you guilty,” Ayesha said, casting a brief look at Adam. “I think he may be right. How could you go free if you clarify the whereabouts of others. They are not on this planet, as we discovered while you were sleeping. Nor do they seem like the kind of group that would leave one of its members confused and out of memory, whatever caused it. Don't you remember you were ambushed and separated?”

Gamora remained silent.

“Has she woken up like this?” She asked looking at Adam.

“Yes. She passed out while I tried to talk to her. I think she had nightmares, she got agitated and even cried in her sleep.”

“Nightmares...” Ayesha spoke to herself as she reflected. “What information do you have about this?”

“None, madam,” the golden man replied. “She doesn't remember what she saw. She woke up still very confused, but she gradually remembered who she is and who we are.”

“Do you have anything to do with it?”

“Perhaps. I tried to transmit energy to help her. But I don't know if it influenced her memories. I myself didn't quite understand what happened.”

“This is good, it is one more proof that you are above what we expected. It is yet another new skill to be explored and mastered.”

He nodded. Gamora quickly outlined a confused expression to Adam, not understanding why he omitted some of the information, not knowing whether or not it was to help her, and immediately resumed her empty expression before Ayesha looked at her again. The golden woman took a deep breath and adopted a threatening posture, staring at her deeply. Gamora wouldn't give in to her intimidating look, but she agreed that to anyone else it could seem terrifying.

“What you did is a very high degree heresy!” The woman spoke louder than in the last few minutes. “What we punish with death. You have a chance to choose a different destination.”

“Maybe she'll remember later, she's still stunned,” Adam intervened.

“From the information you gave me, I will give you some time,” the priestess replied to the man. “However I still don't understand the reason for your compassion with a maximum level prisoner,” she spoke looking at the bottom of the cell, and Gamora knew she was watching the pillow and blanket that Adam had brought.

“She has a special condition as I mentioned. Because of that I asked for time for a meeting as soon as possible. Although we protect our honor so much, I remember being taught that this also lies in not condemning proven innocents.”

“I don't see innocents with evidence here, we only have chances,” Ayesha said still looking at the zehoberi. “What makes you think that way?”

“The energy.”

Ayesha finally turned to face him curiously.

“What did you feel?”

“She carries a new life, as you have told me normal beings do elsewhere in the galaxy. I'm sure it's someone else's energy, although it looks a lot like hers.”

Ayesha's eyes widened, and for an instant she looked puzzled from Adam to Gamora.

“It certainly changes things,” the queen said.

Another silent pause followed.

“But there is nothing different about her.”

Gamora would have laughed if she hadn't been working mentally to combat the threat to the baby. Were sovereigns so ignorant about it and so isolated from other peoples that they couldn't even imagine what changes a pregnant woman's body was undergoing? But Rocket had told them about Yondu's account, that Ayesha personally appeared on other planets when she was interested. It wasn't possible that once in her life she hadn't seen a pregnant woman.

“Maybe she needs time,” Adam told him. “Like us. Even if it's otherwise. Will she also need an birthing parkman?”

“No. It doesn't seem to be what Mr. Quill pointed out to us the last time we saw him.”

Gamora could have a fit of laughter now. Ayesha had never actually seen a pregnant woman, which meant that she should leave very little, probably sending only subordinates on most missions. Gamora hadn't lost the suspicious smile of a young sovereign the day Peter flirted with the queen.

“But could you explain to us if you want us to help you.”

Gamora immediately noticed the change from threat to curiosity, whether it was just pure curiosity or for scientific purposes she didn't know, but she would kill anyone who even thought of harming her baby in any way.

“Did you get data on that?” The woman asked Adam.

“What I was able to quickly research while I left the prison wing. What happens to her affects the child.”

“Child?”

“Yes. In natural conditions, births generate much smaller and younger beings than the youngest we have ever created.”

“I know that. Although I have never watched any closely.”

“She was cold and looked uncomfortable. Beyond nightmares. I thought you would like to know about it, so we need her in good condition. If it's inside her body, what happens to her must affect the child, and perhaps the other way around as well.”

Gamora and Ayesha exchanged a deep look filled with silent thoughts. The zehoberi could almost feel how agitated the queen's brain was thinking about issues that for any other normal being would be simple, and she was certainly remembering what Peter said to her that day and wondering about how a baby is naturally generated.

“If you also have the knowledge to make people, you could recreate your species.”

“This isn’t how it works,” Gamora replied simply.

“That will be interesting... If you want to be silent, so be it, for now. You won't get out of here. But I assure you that nothing will be done until your child is born.”

Gamora watched Ayesha turn towards the exit and walk away, and exchanged one last look with Adam before he too left her.

Finally alone, she took a deep breath and sat on the floor, hugging her knees. How had that happened? In fact, she didn't even understand what was happening and had no idea what the galaxy was like now after all the destruction of Thanos. She didn't know if Xandar still existed to welcome her in case she ran away, she had no idea what had happened to the Guardians, although in her conversation with her younger self in the soul stone the other Gamora had given her an indication that she had found herself with them. Gamora thought she saw something through her, but suddenly she didn't remember, in her mind there were only the moments with Adam.

Her fingers slid gently over her belly and the fear took over her. She looked around for cameras, scanning the cell and its exterior five times before making sure there were none. So she spent the next few hours looking for any way to break that prison, but the sovereigns seemed as good at it as they were ignorant about normal life, and she found nothing. If Rocket was here... If Peter were with her! They were both good at this, or tricking the guards into finding an easy and quick way out, and sometimes suicidal, but that usually worked. What if she had gone to the right? That question never left her head, and her eyes filled with tears every time she remembered the last moments she had been with her Star Lord.

Gamora ignored the tears that burned in her eyes and dried them, trying to calm herself before resuming her search for flaws. She tried to think about the baby. How many months was she? The time on the soul stone certainly didn't count since it didn't seem to pass. She forced her memory on signs that she hadn't noticed or ignored before she was kidnapped by Thanos. She had had small signs, but they were there. However, her mind was busy enough with other concerns at the time that she didn't notice it soon. There were days when she felt drowsier than usual, and she felt that the slight pain in her breasts was nothing more than a consequence of some long and heavier missions that had left them exhausted at that time. A few more days and she probably would have noticed.

This shouldn't have happened the last time she and Peter had time alone for this, it should have been earlier. Perhaps she was just over a month old when Thanos took her. She wondered why the Red Skull didn't mention it, or if Thanos knew in any way before or after sacrificing her. But as much as she didn't have those answers and probably wouldn't have, she hated him now a thousand times more than before if it was possible.

Her hands roamed her stomach even though it was still impossible to notice any difference, and looking outside the cell horrified her with the future possibilities. Her baby couldn't be born here. Who knows what Ayesha would do. Despite the promise that she wouldn't be touched until the birth, she wasn't anxious to find out whether the sovereigns' curiosity about conception and birth could be dangerous or insane.

“I have to get out of here.”

******

Ayesha entered the room where she had discussed with her assistant the details for Adam's creation for so long. The youngest was already waiting for her there when the queen sat in one of the comfortable chairs in her rooms.

“Is it true that she woke up with her memory restored?” Alia asked.

“Not completely. She's still confused and doesn't know where the others are. It looks like something has happened over the past few years.”

“So they weren't missing for nothing?”

“I don’t think so.”

“What if they're already dead?”

Ayesha looked at her and was thoughtful for a few moments.

“We cannot rule out that possibility, despite how difficult it seems to be to kill those thieves. After all, they have been missing all this time. But why only her? And why did she come to us?”

“If she arrived without a memory it may have been a coincidence. Or some slight memory brought her here for help.”

“Adam thinks she can remember more later. Perhaps the child is affecting her. If they share the same organism until the birth, it can suck her strength.”

“Kid? Did you mean she's pregnant?”

Ayesha's look was curious when the queen registered the term in her mind.

“So that's the denomination.”

“Yes. I have seen some women on the missions you sent me.”

“She didn’t want to provide us with any information. What can you say about that?”

“Her body will undergo some changes in the process, I don't know exactly how long, but if you decide not to sentence her, we'll need to get her new clothes.”

“What kind of physical changes do you talk about?”

“The belly gets bigger, that's where the baby is apparently raised.”

“Baby?”

“It's what people call it.”

“This child can be an excellent chance to see how life is shaped by... Traditional methods as Mr. Quill mentioned several years ago. As my main contact with the outside world, you must know something more concrete.”

The young woman took a second to breathe. In fact, that was the reason why she wasn't as ignorant as other sovereigns about life considered normal outside the planet. But she still didn't have complete information.

“All I know is that it takes two beings to make it happen, a couple - she said simply, not wanting to reveal everything she really knew - But I don't have much more data about the child's development, or how it can be extracted from the mother's body when the moment arrives. Do you think he had anything to do with it? He's the most like her of the whole team. They must be genetically compatible. I don't think that species with big differences could generate a descendant.”

“It's possible that it's. He made it clear that he knows how to do it. This makes it all the more interesting considering that they are of completely different color patterns.”

“Do you think the descendant will have two colors?”

“That only the time will tell... For years we have studied and perfected ourselves to create perfect beings. We shouldn't get excited and expect too much from a being generated from such a disordered, yet compatible, mix. Especially if it has Mr. Quill's temper.”

“What if he's as fierce as she is? What will we do when he is born? Are we going to keep them here forever? And how long can it take? Our capsules take a year or more depending on the genetic matrix that was created.”

Ayesha was silent as she reflected on her assistant's questions, but she cannot answer them. One of her guards hurried into the room, looking terrified.

“High Priestess! She demands to see you! She put our guns down! She says that we have something that interests her.”

“Who she?” Ayesha asked in the same seriousness tone mixed with revolt that she used when all her ships were destroyed years ago.

“She's at the entrance to the palace. She looks harmless at first, and she's just a child, but her threats seem serious.”

Ayesha and Alia looked at each other, immediately heading for the entrance, where all the guards were standing in horror, wanting to pick up the weapons thrown at their feet, but clearly afraid to do so.

“We can talk if you follow us,” Alia told the girl, trying to keep her voice as neutral as possible as she always did in complicated negotiations.

The girl was much shorter than all of them. Her dark blue hair and strange clothes hid her gray face as she looked down. Her silence made her look even more terrifying. The girl made them freeze inside when she slowly stared at them, her red eyes looked on fire.

“I don't need any conversation. I just need her.”

“Could you clarify who you're talking about?” Alia asked.

“Your prisoner, or invited, whatever. The most deadly ex-killer in the galaxy.”


	4. Revenge

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter didn't get very big. But keep following, the next ones will be better. <3

Gamora set up the blanket and pillow on the floor, which was much more spacious than the stone bench in the cell, taking advantage of the fabric being large enough to lie on it and still cover herself. The years with Thanos still made the floor a familiar place to sleep, despite all the comfort she can have living with the Guardians for so many years afterwards. She didn't know how long she had fallen asleep after talking to Ayesha, and it wasn't possible to get a sense of the passage of time inside the prison.

Her mind was still clouded and she didn't fully understand the sudden change of environment. Not knowing where the other Guardians were or what had happened to them, and being pregnant in the prison cell of a people who wanted them dead only made her distress grow. She couldn't stay here. She needed medical care, she needed to know if the baby was well, she needed to eat and rest properly, she would need new clothes when her body started to change, and remember that she probably wasn't even two full months pregnant and that maybe she couldn't get away terrified her. She could give birth alone, but what would she do next?

“It seems that we woke up in a nightmare...” She murmured to herself and her son, even though the baby was too small to hear sounds. “Where are you, my Star Lord? What did he do to you and everyone else?”

She turned to face the ceiling, taking a deep breath to calm her despair at not being able to be with Peter, run to him and tell him about the baby, and get rid of that long battle in her life, which now seemed more interminable than never. She went back to the bottom of the cell and allowed her tears to flow to the pillow, wondering if this was already an effect of the pregnancy or the simple and pure sadness that her body had tired of keeping hidden.

******

“What would be your interest in our prisoner?” Ayesha questioned the girl after sitting on her throne in the palace lobby. “And I think it would be useful to know who we are talking to.”

The girl looked coldly at the guards and at Alia, positioned in front of Ayesha.

“The High Priestess wants to know your name,” Alia said.

“Aster.”

“The Guardians of the Galaxy insulted us indisputably. We will not let any of them escape our judgment.”

Aster raised an eyebrow in disbelief, aware of the short-tempered reputation for none of the sovereigns, which fortunately none of them seemed to notice. But whatever the stupid actions the Guardians might have done to offend the sovereigns, it didn't matter to her. What they and those Avengers had done, that was indisputable and unforgivable.

“The Priestess must know what happened on Earth.”

“Could you be more specific? It's been less than two months since everyone came back, we are still adjusting and trying to understand what happened.” Alia told her. “And where is this place?”

“Earth is the only planet alive in a nearby galaxy, at least that's what the ignorant and proud humans think there. They are so limited that they think they are alone in their galaxy, even though they know that there is life somewhere out there. You must have heard of Thanos.”

Alia and Ayesha exchanged a look. Despite how isolated the sovereigns were from the rest of the universe, they weren't so ignorant as to not know the fame of the crazy titan.

“We know who he is,” Ayesha replied. “But why would this story interest someone so young? Unless you have been affected by the calamity.”

Calamity? Is that what they were calling the snap?

“Since I and anyone else who was under his control met him, he had only one goal besides forcing orphans to join his army or making more orphans by decimating planets and entire nations, and forcing one that he left alive to follow him. All this to satisfy a psychopathic and useless desire to decimate half the life of the entire universe because of the scarcity of resources, as if living beings were unable to reproduce again and generate the same problem centuries later.”

Alia took a deep breath at the younger girl's horrific revelation, finally understanding the reason for all the chaos that had befallen the galaxy for five long and complicated years.

“If you disagree, why did you follow him?” Alia asked.

“If I could change that, I wouldn't be here now.”

“So... Was he responsible for all this?” She murmured, more to herself than for Aster.

“If you want our support to hunt this individual, at the moment we are focused on reorganizing our people, and especially keeping those who have returned,” Ayesha said.

“Thanos is dead. Hand me the zehoberi and I’ll leave.”

“And why would we do that?”

“Earth has a group of people who call themselves the Avengers. Thanos had threatened their planet before. They teamed up with the Guardians of the Galaxy to defeat him, and killed him along with the entire army that was on Earth, and shortly before that, somehow, they brought everyone back. The whole story doesn't matter, and I don't care about Thanos' fate, but I lost important people because of them. And I don't intend to get away with it. After I get rid of them, I'll follow to the Avengers. I'm willing to negotiate for her and for information about the others.”

“We search for the same information as you. She appeared alone and completely disoriented,” Ayesha replied.

Aster was silent to process the news. So she wasn't mistaken. The woman she had located on the planet was indeed Gamora. How could she be alive after her parents confirmed that Thanos murdered her, she had no idea. She expected to find any of the others when she adjusted her ship to locate all the Guardians of the Galaxy. But the people erased from the universe were back, something could have happened for Gamora to be too.

“What do you want for her?”

Ayesha was silent for a long time.

“The Guardians of the Galaxy are an issue that we are not willing to negotiate. Especially the woman we have in our possession. She has something that interests us. It is something that under our laws we cannot erase.”

“And what do your laws say? Depending on the reason, I'll accept the negotiation without causing any damage before leaving,” the girl spoke when a black spear like the night materialized in her hand, one end glowed with blue light, and the other contained a sharp silver fit. “You want to kill them. I want to kill them. Common goals can generate good business.”

Ayesha paid attention to the guards' apprehensive looks at the strange black spear. The girl didn't appear to be more than ten years old, but she certainly had potential in combat. Sovereigns weren't great scholars on spiritual and emotional balance, but they weren't foolish enough to not know that unbalanced warriors could bring more problems than benefits.

“We will not deal with this matter without knowing who we are talking to. And especially with someone so young. Our people discuss their issues in the most coherent way possible.”

“Aster Glave. Always trained with the extinct Thanos army.”

“What do you intend to do if you destroy the Guardians of the Galaxy and these Avengers?” Alia asked.

“I don’t know. But probably living anywhere where I'm unable to come across ridiculous beings like them. And my age didn't stop me from detaining all your guards.”

“The prisoner you request carries a descendant. Our laws prevent proven innocents from being condemned for the actions of others. As long as she takes to complete the process, we will keep her intact.”

Aster immediately deduced what happened. Gamora was pregnant. She well remembered her parents commenting on Thanos' disdain for the fact that her adopted daughter had a boyfriend and really learned to love him and ignore everything she had been taught since Thanos adopted her. Probably one of the other Guardians would be the father. But how she came back from the dead, and still with the baby, were things that Aster couldn't explain.

“This may take nine months or slightly less. I can wait.”

“You are too young. And you certainly has a high potential in combat, but you can become better, stronger,” Ayesha told her. “Wherever the other Guardians are, we will find them when the time is right. As for you, I suggest that you improve if you want to dispute them with us. They are able to catch anyone by surprise before you realize it is too late. And I must warn you that we will not tolerate any insult or aggression against our people,” she spoke in her serious and authoritative tone.

“I don't care to hurt you.”

The girl started to leave, but she looked at Ayesha again.

“I was a little girl, but it's impossible not to remember everything that was said about Thanos' favorite daughter. She won't be quiet in a cell waiting for anything to happen. There is a good chance that the others are alive, somewhere. If you want to keep her under control, say they're dead. She'll have nowhere to go or where to turn. When the child is born, you can use it to attract the others. If they're as sentimental as I heard, they'll come. And they'll save us the trouble of hunting them. And I don't care what you plan to do with them. I'll be here when that day comes.”

Neither sovereign had time to think of an answer. Aster walked towards the exit and disappeared faster than any of them could understand.

******

“Do you think we should do what she said?” Alia asked when they talked alone the next morning, now in the big golden room where they held the birthing parkman.

“It is advice from an ordinary child, disgusted by a sentimental reason. But cutting the prisoner's hopes can make her think hard before she tries to run away from us.”

“And Adam? He seems to have a lot of sympathy for her.”

“He's one of us. Designed to be the perfect version of our people, and that includes loyalty. Despite being more courteous than desired sometimes.”

“But he always finds logical reasons when we ask him about it.”

“I can't disagree.”

“What if they're alive? What will we do if she finds out and does something?”

“She seems very obstinate in protecting her child, we will use that to our advantage. She will not think of trying anything that will risk the life of the descendant.”

“Do you think that if they find out they will come here to confront us?”

Ayesha remained silent for some time.

“It's possible. We must be prepared for an invasion, it will not be friendly considering our last encounters in battle. They remain outnumbered, but they are very smart and audacious.”

“Do you think... the child she expects is from the human? Their leader.”

“It is very likely. We will have evidence of this when it is born. And if necessary, we will also use the risk to her and the child's life to stop or delay them.”

“We have no idea how it works. Are we going to leave her in that cell until the birth and even after? She may need something or more suitable accommodations, properly guarded against escapes, of course. Our birthing parkmen are in a special place and isolated from any signs of chaos or danger for everything to go well. Perhaps she also needs such an environment at some point.”

“We will provide what is needed. We gave our word of honor that nothing would happen to her or the child until the birth. And it will be the perfect opportunity to gather information about other species, especially one of which only one live specimen remains, for now.”


	5. Pain

Gamora was leaning against the prison wall using the pillow to soften the contact, and completely ignoring the food left for her through the bars of the cell. A cup of tea and a type of herbal bread, not wanting to test to see if there was poison or anything else there. She didn't feel like eating anyway. All she wanted to do was find a way to circumvent security and track down the Guardians or Xandar. She had searched for flaws even in the bathroom, whose door was at the bottom of the cell, almost unnoticed, without finding anything. She closed her eyes and almost fell asleep again for a few moments, but the distant sound of a door being opened and familiar steps alerted her.

She stepped away from the bars and waited, ready to fight hand-to-hand if necessary. But it was just Adam. Not that it made her any less alert, though he seemed harmless so far. The sovereign crouched down to stay the same height she was and looked at her with the same kind eyes as before.

“You should eat. I think your child needs it.”

Gamora looked at him without saying anything, only then realizing that he was carrying something.

“I understand your distrust,” he said, and sat down on the floor in front of her, taking the tea and looking at the contents of the cup. “This is already cold. I think you can feel better with that,” he said, holding out a perfectly sealed bottle of water and drinking himself the tea they had brought her.

“My resistance to toxic substances is greater, but I'm still affected like any other living being.”

 _‘Not like Mantis’_ , Gamora thought. They knew that their friend was immune to poisons. And thinking about it almost brought tears to her eyes. Mantis, so sweet and innocent, no matter how much she had learned to deal with the real world and had become more firm when she joined them. Gamora couldn't imagine how affected she would be if she found out that her family no longer existed, it would hurt differently for each of them, but it was just cruel and dark to imagine a being as kind and loving as Mantis losing her life so soon. She closed her eyes again, almost forgetting that Adam was there.

“Are you alright?”

Gamora blinked a few times as she returned to reality, which seemed as painful as her thoughts. Only then did she stop to think about what Adam was doing to prove to her that it was safe to accept the food. She looked at his hand still outstretched with the water bottle and finally took it.

“Thank you,” she murmured.

She pretended to remain lost in thought as she analyzed the label attached to the bottle, and recognized the packaging as the same as what they used to buy in ordinary markets in the galaxy every now and then. Visually there didn't seem to be anything wrong either, so Gamora opened it and risked a sip. It looked perfectly normal, so she drank more.

“Eat some, it will not hurt,” Adam insisted, and seeing that he was also eating some bread, she accepted and ate without telling him anymore.

The two didn't exchange another word until they were done, so Adam looked at her with concern again. How could a sovereign be so empathetic? It even looked like he had human DNA. But knowing Ayesha, she knew he hadn't.

“Are you alright?” He asked again. “Does it hurt?”

“No,” she lied, deciding not to reveal details, and ignoring the pain caused sometimes in her breasts due to the preparation of the body for the baby. “Not yet.”

“I’ll speak to our superior. We have better cells. She promised that you and the child will be fine.”

“I don't need your pity.”

Adam continued to look at her in silence before getting up and leaving with what they had used to eat.

******

Peter walked alone through the center of Xandar. Today there was no mission for them, so they decided to split up to supply the ship with fuel, buy new supplies and spare parts. Rocket and Groot were somewhere buying parts. Drax and Mantis were buying supplies, and he and Nebula had already supplied the ship. Peter would be with her at Benatar now, but he had been spending as little time on the ship as possible lately. Everything there reminded him of Gamora. It was hard enough to sleep every night without crying for not having her by his side, and enduring all the nightmares brought on by it.

They had left Earth almost two months ago, and no mechanism from Benatar or the New Corps had been able to locate Gamora. The Gamora they had now. 'She's completely confused and bewildered. Maybe she wants to be alone for now ', Nebula had already told him more than once, always reminding him that nobody wanted to find Gamora more than she did, and that she would be the first to try to contact if they found her, even because as far as they knew she was the only one on team that this Gamora wouldn't attack. And the lack of a conclusion for that worried Peter.

Gamora could have followed her original plan to escape and live in peace somewhere far away from the galaxy. But even the contacts of the New Corps with the most distant and isolated planets and systems hadn't resulted in anything. At this point Peter didn't care if this Gamora didn't remember him, he needed to know if she was okay, to know that his nightmares weren't real.

He would have gone into a depression if the team and the galaxy didn't need him. The Guardians didn't have time for vacation when they left Earth. There were an immense number of others affected by the Thanos war who needed help. Especially in Xandar, which was still being rebuilt. Thor stayed with them at first, but he decided to leave them to take care of their own affairs for now. The god of thunder was as hurt as they were by the events on Earth, and before he left it made him and Peter understand each other better.

The Star Lord instinctively stopped when he found himself in front of a store that he and Gamora frequented from time to time, it hadn't been destroyed by the arrival of Thanos five years ago. It was a store with hair products. He can almost hear Gamora laughing when he suggested some color of garters to tie the hair she would never wear. When he started braiding her hair it became common for them to come to this place together. The salespeople were busy with their usual business, organizing the store and serving some customers. Peter lowered his head when tears burned in his eyes and walked away before he caught anyone's attention.

He walked aimlessly to one of the most pristine and empty wooded areas nearby. Making sure he were alone and wouldn't be disturbed by occasional pedestrians, he allowed himself to support his back on a tree and cry. He allowed himself to sit on the floor and hid his face in his hands, feeling all the pain that had been suppressing him every day to tear him inside, and the anger and hurt of the injustice of losing the strongest and most loving woman he had ever known of his mother stabbing him with enormous force. Then the nightmares and the most lonely and sad death scene he imagined for his beloved came back to him and he might as well have passed out in pain now.

It started to rain, and with the minutes the rain intensified, gradually managing to get through even the leaves of the tree that protected Peter, but he didn't mind the discomfort of wet clothes. He didn't want to live anymore, he didn't want to feel this cruel pain anymore, the world without Gamora was meaningless to exist in his head, especially because of the terrible way she was taken from them. If the rain took him now, Peter would be grateful. Maybe he could rest. Perhaps a miracle would take him to her, and wherever he went, beside her he would be fine.

He allowed his tears to continue mixing with the rain, and he didn't think to move or get up, he didn't have the strength to do that. The pain of knowing that he wouldn't die at that moment almost rivaled the one he was already feeling. All the bad feelings were mixed up in his head now and made it ache. He knew that tears wouldn't take the pain away, he was tired of waiting for it. Peter wondered if that was the feeling of going crazy. Like some of the comic book villains which he read as a kid. The pain was so great that it had made them lose their sanity. At the time they seemed only bad to him, but now he knew the feeling and the reasons for what could have left them that way.

His communicator has emitted a signal and he can hear Rocket's voice calling after him, after Nebula. The two had become a little paranoid after spending five years alone without the rest of the team, even though they had the Avengers, and they were always the first to look for any one of them that would take longer than expected to return. But Peter ignored them, he didn't have the strength to answer them either. And he thanked that the loud sound of the rain was able to hide the sound of his lament.

******

“I will never understand why you, one of us, is like that. I hope you know how to use this kindness to attract enemies and not to help them when necessary.”

Adam remained silent, waiting for Ayesha's decision.

“If you have been insisting on this for two months it must be really important.”

“Yes. From now on mainly, I think... She is in pain. She said it’s normal, but sleeping in a cold, hard place won’t help.”

Ayesha stayed long seconds in silent reflection and it was almost frightening to watch her like a statue sitting in her chair, with Alia standing beside her, also in expectation.

“It's all right. Alia, help him with whatever is necessary. You can transfer her to one of the best cells, and be sure to check security.”

“Yes, madam.”

The two went to the prison wing, and Alia stopped in front of a door. The lock seemed common, but it was noticeably stronger than normal locks. When the young woman opened it, the two found themselves in a room with gray walls, a little bigger than the cell where Gamora was, but in that one there was a real bed with a soft white bedding, and a slightly larger bathroom. The one in Gamora's current cell was on a door in one corner of the cell. A narrow horizontal window illuminated the room at the top of the wall, being the only point of connection with the exterior of the palace.

“Do you think she'll be okay here?”

“Certainly better than where she is.”

“Do you think she'll try to escape when we pick her up? What if she gets aggressive? I've heard that some pregnant women stay.”

“You can go if that happens. I’ll try to bring her in peace.”

The two walked to the farthest area of the prison, where the smallest and most uncomfortable cells were. Alia remained apprehensive all the way, but they were both surprised by not finding an incredibly suspicious Gamora ready to attack anyone who dared to enter.

The woman was sitting on the floor, leaning on the cell bench. Her eyes still had the usual fury, but not the strength. Her breathing felt heavy, and she closed her eyes, cringing and resting her head on her arms crossed over the bench.

The two sovereigns looked at each other unsure of what to do and Alia opened the cell, allowing Adam to enter cautiously. If Ayesha were here she would certainly accuse Gamora of setting a trap, but as far as they knew Gamora didn't react as badly to Adam as the rest of them, so Alia didn't think it necessary to worry.

“What is going on?” He asked softly when he bent down beside her. “Did the pains get worse?”

“No...” her voice was just a whisper, and only Adam can hear. “I'm queasy. This is normal too.”

The zehoberi was three months pregnant, and she had already gotten new clothes brought by Alia and Adam, surprisingly the right size for what she needed now, and not so different from the ones she used to wear, it was even black and gray. They had certainly decided for themselves. Ayesha would never let her have that comfort.

“We came to take you to better accommodations. There is a bed there, you’ll be able to rest,” Adam told her.

Gamora turned her face to look at him, and even with her eyes clouded by discomfort he noticed her analyzing them in search of falsehood. She tried to get up on her own, and Adam got up at the same time, fearing that she couldn't support herself for long, and he was right. Her movements indicated that she was also dizzy, and she would have found the floor if he hadn't held her. She took a deep breath, her expression tightened and she moaned in agony when the golden man lifted her in his lap.

“Shouldn't we take her to our doctors?”

“We don't know about that, I don't think they could help. And we can't get her out of here,” Alia replied.

“This will end soon... Leave me alone and go away,” Gamora murmured again, barely finding the energy to speak in the face of the nausea.

“What should we do?”

“For now, waiting seems the best. Moving her in that state will make her suffer more,” Adam spoke sitting on the bench with Gamora still on his lap.

At that moment the zehoberi cried.

“What else is wrong?” He asked, and he could see in Gamora's expression the signs he had learned to detect as anger and as a strong indication that she wanted to hit someone.

Fortunately for both of them, she didn't have the strength for that now. New tears escaped her eyes for a moment.

“Tell us how we can help,” Alia said.

“It's not you who should be here now,” the warrior spoke as softly as before. “You shouldn't...” her voice weakened and was lost when she continued to cry and made a vain effort to push Adam away.

Alia sat next to her friend, for the first time managing to feel some of the empathy he had for Gamora. She had been raised to one day succeed Ayesha, but she had never been as cold as she was. The feeling of feeling sad for a prisoner with whom she had no connection was strange, and inexplicable, something that to Adam seemed normal and easy since his birth. He was like that with everyone, and Ayesha kept talking and trying to understand what had gone wrong. That was the only thing she disapproved of in her creation.

When Alia returned from her thoughts, she realized that Gamora had slept and was completely motionless in Adam's arms.

“We’ll take her now.”

The older one nodded, and the two left the place, closing the cell and moving on to the new one. Gamora regained consciousness at the beginning of the journey, but she remained silent and quiet, wanting to collect as much information as possible about the paths inside the prison with what she can hear and see by narrowing her eyes just enough that they wouldn't notice. She still felt weak and dizzy from sadness and discomfort. Trying to escape now would be suicide. So she did nothing to prevent them from taking her.

She heard a lock open and noticed the change in lighting when they entered the new cell. Adam placed her gently on the bed, and Gamora pretended to wake up at that moment, but just closed her eyes again and flinched, unable to avoid caressing her belly, now a little bigger, that always helped her to get through the malaise.

She felt a blanket being placed over her, and realized that Adam and Alia were still watching her, probably trying to find out if they still needed to worry about her discomfort.

“Gamora?” Alia called her, surprisingly with the same softness as Adam.

The zehoberi didn’t want to answer, all she wanted and needed now was to sleep.

“We'll see you later,” she heard Adam say before the two left.

Fortunately she managed to sleep. And luckily her dreams were sweet, however much she would feel angry at being tricked by her mind upon waking up. She saw Peter, and they were in her bedroom in Benatar. He held her on their bed, kissed her forehead and spoke the sweet words he always said to pamper her. She smiled when he said how much he loved her and showed her his most beautiful smile too. Gamora took a deep breath as she felt the strong and warm hand caress their son. Peter laughed and hugged her tighter.

_We'll be fine, honey,” he told her softly._


	6. Torment

Peter shivered and shrank against the tree trunk. The raindrops were still falling, but much less intense now. He had fallen asleep and had no idea how long, but it was still clear. He dried his face with his hands as much as possible, even under one of the big trees of the place the intensity of the rain had made him wet.

“Hey... Are you okay?”

Peter looked in the direction that he felt a gentle hand touch his shoulder, seeing Dey staring down at his side. He wore a transparent raincoat over the uniform of the New Corps, and held an umbrella over his head. 

“Dey…” his voice was no louder than a whisper.

“Peter, why are you here? Your team is concerned. They haven't been able to locate you for hours.”

“How much time?”

“Two hours. They went out to look for you, but you hid well, the rain got too strong and they went back to the ship.”

Peter was silent for a moment, and Dey just watched him.

“I can't go back there in that state.”

“They are your family. They are suffering too, for everything,” Dey said, avoiding mentioning Gamora.

“I know…”

“Let's go to my house. My wife and children are not there now, we can talk. You can dry off and compose yourself before we talk to the others if you want.”

“Shouldn't you go back to headquarters?”

“You're my service for now. Nova Prime told me to help you in the best way I could. And this is the best I see now.”

Peter thought some more. Dey was right, but he had already entrusted his regrets to the other Guardians so many times, as he had heard everything that any of them had to regret for Gamora too. But he didn't feel like risking a Rocket or Nebula sermon now.

“All right.”

Dey stood up and held out his hand to help him. Peter felt his body ache the moment he moved. Even though only two hours had passed, it wasn't a good idea to sleep sitting against a tree in the rain. His emotional state also did nothing to help his body get better.

“Are you alright?” Dey repeated.

Peter nodded and followed him to the transport that Dey had parked next to the mini woods where they were standing. It was a New Corps vehicle by the symbol engraved on the front, but very different from the ones that were normally used to survey the city and arrest bad people. Instead of the triangular nave, it almost looked like an ordinary car like the ones on Earth, but without wheels, it glided suspended in the air a few centimeters from the ground. He had seen agents use this vehicle a few times before, but it was rare.

The two entered and Dey offered him a towel. Peter used it to dry himself as much as possible and kept silent looking out the window, although he didn't really see what was out there. His thoughts were confused, which made him even more disturbed and sad. If Dey spoke to him, he didn't notice. And he didn't even realize the path taken until they entered the garage of the building where the denarian lived.

Dey guided him through the corridors and the elevator took them just one floor up before they stopped at one of the doors in the huge corridor. Peter followed him inside and found himself in a cozy apartment, with soft colors and feminine and childlike touches that seemed to bring peace and joy to the place. Dey's daughter was a teenager now, but she had won a little brother a few years ago. The Guardians had visited the family after the birth, and Peter couldn't help remembering how Gamora smiled and looked happy holding the newborn. Unlike his sister, the boy looked like Dey, but had lighter eyes because of his mother.

“You can shower and dry your clothes if you want. You already know that we have a dryer in the bathroom,” Dey said gently, holding out a towel.

“Thank you, Dey.”

Dey replied with a sad smile, and when Peter came back and joined him at the kitchen table, the denarian gave him a cup of tea, which Peter accepted with gratitude, while Dey also drank some.

“I want to speak to you as your friend, not just as a New agent.”

“I know what you're going to say.”

“No... I know everything people must have already told you, and I won't repeat it. I know the pain of losing important people. Not all of us survived when Thanos passed here. But I know yours is much bigger. Gamora was an extraordinary being, much more than she ever thought as you told me. And I know that nobody believes in it more than you do, and that nobody should suffer for it as you are suffering, perhaps not even Nebula. But do me a favor and never tell her I said that!”

Peter nodded, and managed to laugh for a moment.

“We continue to track her after you asked us when we recovered the system. Oftentimes. We didn't find her, but that doesn't mean that the worst happened. She may only be too far, or outside the known tracking area. If she doesn't show up in a few weeks, we can launch an ad to look for her.”

“Would that work?”

“We don’t know. But I'm sure it’ll be easier to find her with the entire galaxy looking.”

“The whole galaxy isn’t good, Dey.”

“We'll make it clear that we want her well, and that anything other than that will lead to severe punishment for the person responsible. People love you, many love Gamora. You know how crazy my kids are for her. You can't imagine how they cried when they found out she disappeared. People will want to help.”

Peter was silent.

“You look more tormented than the last time we met. And it hurts me not to know how to help you.”

“You’re already helping, and a lot.”

“Are you sure you don't want to talk about it?”

Dey waited patiently for Peter to reflect.

“Nightmares,” he finally said.

“Do the others know?”

Peter nodded.

“Repeating nightmares. With her death. With strange facts.”

Dey looked at him with sadness and understanding.

“You were the most affected by all of this. I'm sorry I can't stop them for you.”

Peter patted his friend's hand twice in silent thanks, and the two continued to drink.

“When you feel better, I'll count the others and take you to the ship.”

Peter nodded in silence again.

******

“Welcome back.”

Peter stopped walking and looked shocked in the direction of Rocket, sitting at the conference room table with Groot and Drax, unable to believe that Rocket wasn't being ironic. Was it as visible as he wasn't well that even Rocket decided to take it easy on him?

“Sorry for the delay,” he replied simply.

Drax nodded, looking at him gently.

“I am Groot.”

“I'm fine, Groot,” he smiled at the young man, but Groot's look made it clear that he hadn't believed it.

“Did any work show up today?” He asked the three.

“No,” Rock replied. “We are free for today.”

Peter nodded and walked back towards the bedroom, not seeing when the other three looked at each other worried as they had been doing so many times in the past few months. He came across Mantis on the way, not stopping her when she hugged him.

“Mantis...” he started to say, not wanting her to be affected by the sadness he felt.

But his sister shook her head and went on. Peter hugged her back, feeling bad when he saw her squint her eyes absorbing his emotions. He was grateful to realize that she wasn't trying to make him feel better with her powers, just trying to really comfort him, and he looked at her with gratitude when she released him and let him move on.

Nebula was leaning her shoulder against the wall next to her bedroom door when Peter arrived. He wasn't in the mood now to hear a sermon or to unravel the emotions she hid in his seemingly stern look. He intended to ignore her and enter the bedroom, but Nebula took her arm, and waited for Peter to look at her.

“You know we're here anytime. As you've always been for us. Don't sink into it. You and I know that my sister wouldn't like to see any of us like that, especially you,” she said softly.

She didn't wait for Peter to respond or react. She released him gently and walked away. He needed time alone now, she knew that, and would let him rest.

Peter locked the bedroom just to change clothes. Then he went on deck, happy to be empty, sitting in his chair to watch the sky. He watched the hours go by and decided to check the job offer, it could help to occupy his mind, and he still wasn't crazy enough to make mistakes on missions because of the turmoil in his soul.

******

_Peter looked around. He was in that dark and cold place again. The place he had only known in his dreams, but which was one he least wanted to remember. His breathing was labored. A child's crying reached his ears when he concentrated and tried to calm himself. He followed the sound as far as he was sure he didn't want to go, where his nightmare was repeated._

_The scenario was different from the other times, but his feet ran towards her at the same speed, his heart accelerated in the same way. A ray of relief and hope washed over him when he saw Gamora take a deep breath, letting him know she was alive, despite the huge amount of blood around her, and the trickle running from her lips. But what shocked him the most was what she held against her chest._

_The newborn was crying as if he had just known this world, he was still naked and covered in blood. The darkness didn't allow Peter to know with certainty what was the color of his skin or hair. Gamora's hand, though weak, was stroking the little baby's head, and she was trying to whisper something. Tears were streaming from her eyes as well, and Peter's heart shattered when he saw her so sad. He took a deep breath when tears also appeared in his green eyes and he decided to send whatever was going on into space. He knelt beside her, carefully stroking the top of her head and placing his other hand on hers on the baby's back, who stopped crying at that moment. And it was so real, the soft texture of the child's skin, the blood everywhere, Gamora's smooth skin, even though she was so hurt. She finally opened her eyes to look at him. Relief, pain, sadness and happiness mixed in her brown eyes. A slight smile appeared on her lips._

_“Peter...,” her voice was so low that he might not have heard it._

_“Don't talk too much. Rest,” he replied trying not to cry, and failing miserably._

_“Don’t cry...”_

_He tried, but it only made him cry more._

_“I...”_

_“You don't have to explain anything to me, honey,” he spoke in an altered voice. “Then...”_

_“Hold on...” she murmured, unable to finish the sentence._

_Peter understood and nodded, carefully taking the baby off her and settling him on his lap. The little one opened his eyes for a moment, but in the dark Peter couldn't tell what color they were, although they looked brown like Gamora's. He had the impression that the child wasn't green, but his skin, with its color still changed due to the very recent birth, didn't allow him to be sure._

_Gamora cried in pain when she turned to rest her hand on the child's head, and more blood flowed from her lips and down her legs. Peter felt his heart rip again, and with his free hand he held Gamora's hand resting on his knee, making the zehoberi look at him. The sadness in her eyes increased when she saw his condition._

_“I’ll kill that monster!”_

_Her only answer was to squint and cry with him._

_“I'm sorry, darling! I'm so sorry! None of us noticed before...” Peter continued to cry, managing to bend down to kiss her forehead, hugging the baby with all the love he was capable of._

_The little one's hands and feet moved, settling comfortably against his father. Gamora's hand tightened on his as best she could, and her thumb caressed his skin._

_“It's not your fault... It's not our fault... My Star Lord.”_

_Peter sobbed when she called him that and he felt his breath go out when her hand tangled in his hair, stroking and pulling lightly on the strands as she knew it always made him relax. Peter couldn't say anything else, just cry for the next few minutes, even when the movement of her hand in his hair slowed and she just kept it resting there._

_“I'll get us out of here. I'll find a way, you'll be fine, the three of us will be. No one will ever touch you again, Gam!”_

_Her gaze shone and saddened at the same time, reflecting the love and the knowledge that they both knew that she wouldn't leave the way Peter had hoped._

_“Peter... Please...”_

_“No!”_

_“Peter... My love...”_

_He was silent, and nothing but his crying was heard for a few moments._

_“I love you more than anything. Both...”_

_“I know, I know... You have no idea how much I love you back.”_

_“Take care...”_

_He waited. The end of the sentence never came, but he understood and nodded painfully. That wasn’t right! They should do this together!_

_“Come here...” she asked._

_The Earthman moved closer to the ground, better accommodating the baby in his arm to keep him safe. Gamora closed her eyes for a second, cried and sighed before kissing her child's head for a long time. Then she looked at Peter, and he didn't need her to say anything. A lifetime of words was in that exchange of looks. His eyes narrowed and shed more tears before he joined his lips with hers. The zehoberi barely had the strength to correspond, but she did. Her fingers brushed his face, one last attempt to convey him affection and comfort._

_“I love you so much...” she spoke in a low whisper when she took his hand, never opening her eyes again._

_“I love you too. I love you so much, Gam...”_

_The baby made an uncomfortable murmur, and her fingers lost strength in his. Peter felt a sharp pain in his chest and everything went dark and silent._

******

Peter woke up with labored breathing, and a chest pain very similar to that of his nightmare. He curled up on the bed and tried to calm himself, gradually feeling the pain go away and the sadness settle. The heated bedroom helped him to distance himself from the cold air of Vormir. He sat on the bed and looked around, remembering the baby. His confused emotions oscillated between missing the child's weight and sweetness in his arms and trying to understand why he was missing a child who only existed in his dreams.

He took a deep breath to keep himself from panicking. It was at times like this that Gamora would wake up with him, make him lie on her lap to stroke his hair and talk to him, or sit against the headboard to pull him to her chest and ask him to close his eyes. and concentrate on her heartbeat while she hugged him, stroked his hair and told him a story or talked about something interesting that would keep him from his dreams. Not having her with him to do that now was like being thrown overboard in the worst of storms with nothing to hold on to.

“Why?”

The last nightmare must have stayed in his head. It had been so real... The possibility of it being true hadn't left him alone since then. He wiped away the tears that he only realized now which were streaming down his face and curled up in a corner of the bed, hiding his head between his knees. It was hurting, and nothing he did or anyone did for him would make the pain go away now.


	7. Are you okay?

Gamora opened her eyes when she heard murmurs outside the cell. She had been up for half an hour, when it wasn't even dawn yet, but for lack of anything better to do, she decided to stay in bed. Instinctively she looked at her three-month-old belly and stroked it. She sat in silence and stared at the door. It had been a week since they moved her to a new cell.

She got up without making a sound, and snuck up on the floor with her ear to the metal door. Voices of young sovereigns chatted outside, four of them as far as Gamora can tell.

“The high priestess Ayesha said that no one should come very close to that cell.”

“Is she really dangerous as they said of her before she joined the other criminals?”

Criminals... It was from the other Guardians who they were talking, and Gamora was sure that this name had been provided by Ayesha.

“It seems so, but she only uses it against bad people now. The Priestess said she was the only one in the group who seemed to have some intelligence and respect.”

“Alia said she has seen pregnant women before. She said that some are irritated while waiting for the baby, and that they are overprotective. Maybe we shouldn't even be that close.”

“The material used in our buildings is indestructible. And we’re in our free time, these are the only times of the day that we can do whatever we want.”

“As long as it doesn't go against the rules.”

“It's not a rule. It's a recommendation. And since she arrived, everyone is worried about the lack of information. I think they would be happy if we found something.”

“Wouldn't it be easier to just search around?”

“We have a specimen right behind that door. We can't interact with her, but we can still investigate.”

Gamora put her hand to her lips to suppress a laugh. The level of ignorance of the sovereigns about ordinary things in normal life was unbelievable.

“And what do you suggest? That we talk to her like Adam? Only he has managed to do this until now.”

“How could he not? He was created with a level of beauty and social skills above any other sovereign before.”

“I don't think we’ll have an answer.”

“We haven't even tried anything yet.”

“We arrested her with her child. When they brought her here we didn't even know about the child, but don't you think it's logical that she wants to kill us? It's a miracle that she haven't tried to end Adam. And from what we heard, she didn't do anything to Alia because she was weak that time.”

Gamora took a deep breath to contain her anger and felt an uncomfortable tightness in her chest. She closed her eyes again trying to stop herself from crying for everything that she was being prevented from living. And no words could express how much she wished Rocket had been there from the start. They would have been out of this place for a long time ago.

Gamora once again inspired and drew strength that she didn't know where to restrain herself. She heard the four girls approach the door in silence. She wanted to scream, to send them away, but she wouldn't humiliate herself to that extent.

“Be careful... Maybe Alia hasn't exaggerated.”

“There is an insurmountable door between us, why should we fear?”

Unloading all her frustration, Gamora snarled and slammed a hand against the metal door, letting her nails make a frightening noise as they slid through the material. The four girls screamed as they walked away and got up, running in the likely direction of the cell corridor exit. Taking a few deep breaths to slow her heart, Gamora managed to laugh at the dread of the four, but after a few minutes, the weight of sadness fell on her again, seeming to pin her to the floor. She looked at the narrow window at the top of the wall, watching the sky lighten and wondering how long it would take for even the beauty of dawn to have no effect on her.

She often tried to imagine herself in better settings, alongside Peter and the rest of the family, usually in an attempt to at least dream about them, but when she returned from her daydreams she realized that her dreams only caused more pain in reality. Soon she would enter her fourth month of pregnancy, and she went on without finding a fault for escape in the cursed cell of the sovereigns, and without finding out the whereabouts of the Guardians or any news about what was going on outside, if Thanos was really dead, if fact she was years in the future.

She dragged herself back to the bed, staring at the ceiling to try to sleep again, but something woke her up like a shock. She put a hand on her stomach to make sure she wasn't mistaken, and waited. The sensation came again. This time calm and smooth as a cuddle. It almost tickled her. Gamora took a deep breath and stroked the skin under the clothing, trying to feel it again. The baby moved again, this time in a longer motion. A ray of happiness lit up her sadness and the tears that streamed from her eyes came along with a smile. She knew that she only felt it because of her improvements, and that anyone else couldn't yet.

“You should be here...”

The mixture of happiness and deep sadness caused a painfully confused feeling in her chest, and once again Gamora wanted more than ever to decimate the sovereigns, some of them at least. Nor could she blame Rocket for all this anymore, if it weren't for his pathetic attitude the first time they were there, it would have been whatever the Gamora from 2014 had done.

A light knock on the door caught her attention, and she sat down, wiping away her tears and taking on her most deadly look. She picked up one of her boots on the floor and threw it against the door when someone entered. Only when Adam cringed to avoid the object, which collided with the wall and fell to the floor, did she realize that it was him, what mattered little to her. She would have been pleased to give a handsome bruise to any of the sovereigns, even if it were the only one who was trying to be kind to her.

Adam took a deep breath and closed the door, looking at her in warning and surprise. He blinked a few times as he looked around, and his gaze was so docile and soft that he almost looked like a big frightened and confused child.

“Are you alright?” He asked as gently as possible. “Did they do anything to you?”

A part of her heart swayed, he seemed to be sincere in his concern, but the warrior wouldn't let her guard down so easily, and she remained silent, looking away from him and leaning back against the headboard, keeping an arm crossed over her belly, and stroking the spot with her thumb when the baby moved again, not wanting to reveal this new condition to anyone there. She closed her eyes to contain her tears, wishing Adam would be gone soon.

“Why do you care?” She finally asked.

“I don't know,” the golden man said to her. “I feel I must.”

Gamora couldn't help remembering Mantis again. Adam seemed to be a empath like her, even though he was unaware of it.

“Why am I here? You never told me.”

She didn't want to ask, but she needed to know.

“When I found out that the priestess knew you, I thought you did.”

“What did she do? Before you brought us together?”

“She invaded the kingdom. We didn't have time to discover her claim, but despite some of us getting to know her, she didn't remember being here and seemed to have forgotten everything she learned about us. She took a risk beyond what was safe trying to get resources to survive.”

“How long before me?”

“Some hours.”

“Ayesha told you to bring me back...? For what? You could have just killed the other Gamora.”

“She didn't. She just told me to talk to you and try to find out if you were faking it or what happened to your memory.”

Gamora looked at him in surprise. Ayesha didn't know what he had done?!

“And why…?”

“I didn't know that I could do that. As I already told you, I got here just before the missing people came back. I was born knowing a lot, but there is much more that I’m still discovering.”

“Does she know what you did?”

“No.”

“Why?” She asked more and more curious and confused.

“She raised me and I owe her my loyalty, but... The high priestess Ayesha has a cold look, which sometimes scares. She doesn't seem to think over who she is going to pass sometimes, or how, and that doesn't seem normal to me. And if she found out about it, she would make me spend days again trying to demonstrate the new skill to a lot of advisers. I don't like this.”

“And what did you say to her? She must have questioned you.”

“I just said that you passed out, raved, and recovered your memory in some unknown way, even though you forget how you got here. She thinks it was the regeneration that affected you.”

“Regeneration...?”

“It’s what they are calling the return of the missing.”

The zehoberi was silent again. So Adam was afraid of the coldness of the sovereigns... He really was born with a "defect" as Ayesha would say, if she hadn't already said that to himself without ceremony. It was cute how he looked like a young child when he revealed it. But where did empathy come from? No sovereign was like him. And Ayesha would never use genes from other species in one of her specimens, the gift couldn't come from elsewhere. And where did his connection with the soul stone dimension come from?

“You need anything?” Adam asked, even though he saw that there was still water and food on the bedroom table.

“No.”

“Did they do anything to you?” He asked again.

Gamora felt again the confused and uncomfortable feeling of uncertainty when she saw such sincerity in his eyes.

“No. They were just four curious young people.”

“Are you alright?” He insisted while taking the boot thrown at him and placing it beside the other at the foot of the bed.

Gamora felt like crying, yelling at him and throwing something else at him at the same time.

“Yes...” she spoke softly trying to hide the trembling in her voice. “I just scared them. Go away.”

The signs of nervousness didn't go unnoticed by him, and knowing that Gamora wouldn't give in, he preferred to comply with her request to withdraw. A nervous breakdown could affect the baby, and as much as Ayesha only wanted the child to live by the laws of mercy of their people and out of curiosity, he wanted the child to be born well. Perhaps one day this child could be free, since she wasn't to blame for anything the Guardians had done, whatever it was, Ayesha had never clarified the details, she only told him that they had stolen anulax batteries.

Gamora lay down again, turning her back to the door, and to Adam, not looking back or saying anything when she heard him leave and close the door almost silently. When the sound of his footsteps disappeared in the hall, she cried again. The baby made another smooth movement, as if to comfort her from her frustration. Gamora stroked the skin again under the fabric of her shirt, her emotional state might not be good for her child.

“Thank you, my love,” she whispered.

******

Rocket entered the captain's bedroom in Benatar after completing a simple mission on a planet near Xandar. They had been hired to investigate and intercept suspicious and potentially dangerous hotel guests. And miraculously everything had gone well. The bandits were first-time travelers and were already properly arrested on their way to Kylin. Drax, Mantis, Groot and Nebulosa were still enjoying breakfast at the hotel's restaurant, which offered them free accommodation and meals as a thank you, as well as paying them well for the service.

Peter was sitting on the bed looking lost somewhere on the floor, with the look of sadness that had become so common in recent months. No music, no headphones. The zune was becoming more and more constantly forgotten on the bed or kept in a pocket or drawer. The ship was too quiet, more and more, and it was almost scary. Rocket knew how much his leader was making an effort not to let his state affect the performance of the team and himself in the missions, but it was clear to everyone how much additional weight it put on his shoulders day after day and how tired Peter felt.

The Earthman suddenly came out of his trance, finally noticing Rocket standing there looking at him with concern, and looking slowly at the raccoon.

“Are you okay, man?”

Rocket knew it was a stupid question when it was obvious that the answer was no, but he found no other way to start the conversation.

Peter seemed to want to say something, but no sound came from his lips, and he looked down again. Rocket hated going too far with feelings, he didn't know how to deal with them, but he let himself give in a little this time. He closed the door and sat on the floor, a characteristic sign of calm and no threat.

“Only we are here. The others are still inside.”

When Peter said nothing, he continued.

“You were altered at dawn, again. Groot heard you crying, it took me forever to make him sleep again promising that I would talk to you today. Do you want to talk about that?”

Peter took minutes that felt like hours staring at him and thinking of an answer, but this time, only this time, Rocket decided to be patient. The human closed his eyes for a while, and the raccoon feared he would cry again. When he opened them, his green eyes shone, but the tears haven't come yet.

“Nightmares.”

Peter was moved to see real empathy in his friend's sad look.

“I know how awful it is.” Rocket said. “Especially when they are memories.”

“It's both... Bad memories, which aren't mine. Mixed with bad things that I don't know if really happened, or that may have happened.”

“What do you mean?”

“I watch her die again and again, with different details. And it seems too real. As if it were a memory.”

“Have you been dreaming about Vormir?”

“Probably.”

“I don't know how to help you. When it happened to me it was so difficult... But I was alone, I was able to have my time. And then I met Groot. He was younger than when you first met us, I kind of helped him find himself in life, like Groot now. This helped to divert my head from it.”

Peter knew that Rocket was talking about Lila. The two had fled the guinea pig laboratory together, and she hadn't survived, as had Rocket's mother and brothers and sisters, whom he barely remembered.

“Tell us how to help you if you know. And if not, maybe you should take time out for yourself, without work and missions. You need.”

“No,” he spoke immediately. “We need each member of this team here, all together to function.”

The Starlord knew how hard each of them was trying to help him and not pressure him, and for many nights he tortured himself wondering if his condition was hindering the progress of the missions. Maybe Rocket was right, maybe spending time alone would do him good, but Peter felt that far from everyone, he would only succumb more quickly to sadness and pain.

“You'll end up killing yourself, man... Sometimes it's better to let the pain flow. There is no way for it can leave without going through you first. If it’s easier for you to do this alone, I think you should think about it. And see if you don't stick in your silly head that we want to keep you away because we think you are useless! You aren't stupid enough to not know that it's not that! We just don't know what else to do to help you, and that's worrying everyone.”

“Sorry...”

Rocket looked at him sadly for a moment.

“Why don't you tell me what you saw? If you want to.”

Peter took a deep breath.

“Maybe I'm going crazy... And if she really does...”

“Were you really serious that other night?”

“I don't know, Rock,” Peter couldn't keep his voice from shaking a bit, and now it didn't matter that he hated talking about personal details about his life with Gamora for Rocket. “She died pregnant. Yesterday I saw her die again. There was so much blood... And there was a baby.”

Rocket intended to speak, but could only spin his mouth open.

“I think he was blond, he had minutes to live, it was dark, I couldn't even be sure about his or her skin color. He was crying and covered in blood like Gamora. My Gamora... She was so sad. She was afraid.”

“Dude...” was all the raccoon managed to emit.

“Gamora told me to take care of him. She's gone again. And when I woke up... It felt so real. I missed the baby's weight.”

“Couldn't you see if it was a boy or a girl?”

“No. But why would that matter? It was just a nightmare. Not the baby... What happened.”

“Did you even talk to her about it?” Rocket asked in a lower tone, as if talking out loud could hurt Peter even more.

“About children?”

“Yes.”

“Were you...?”

“No. I was going to do things right. I wanted to marry her. I was going to ask her. It could have happened... By accident. But we'll never know.”

Peter felt the urge to insult Thanos with the worst statements he knew, but the knowledge that it wouldn't help him made his pain increase, and his head hurt when he struggled to keep from crying. Rocket had stood up, and placed a welcoming hand on his knee, not knowing what to say.

“I’ll talk to Dey. Maybe they have news. They've been announcing for two weeks now.”

“Thanks, Rock,” the Earthman whispered.

Giving two consoling pats on the Earthman's knee, Rocket left the room, knowing he wouldn't cry in front of him. He didn't stay to hear the regret begin. Peter needed to get rid of it all, and if the only way now was pain and sadness, he would have to go through it.


	8. Despair

When Gamora was five months pregnant, Adam again disturbed her by insisting that the prisoner needed new clothes, and that perhaps they should learn what would be needed when the child was born. What worried her the most is that Alia was beginning to show traces of the same empathy that Adam felt for Gamora, that couldn't go too far! Ayesha only tolerated the situation due to her curiosity about any information she could get about it.

“You and Alia will have a free day to take care of this, but not now. We're on alert.”

“What was wrong?” Alia questioned her.

“The child who threatened us months ago was seen hanging around in places. Probably left. No one has found it yet. But you are our best warrior, you must be here if she appears wanting a confrontation,” she said to Adam as she watched other sovereigns working on several high-tech computers on the other side of the large information room's glass display.

“Should I hurt a child?”

“We are all aware that she is not an ordinary child. And you are no more than a child for the time considered by other species.”

“Madam... Do we have any news of the whereabouts of the others?” Alia asked.

“The universe is still in chaos, not all planets and civilizations have our organization and the ability to rehabilitate quickly. It is difficult even for us to get accurate information. But we will continue to insist on where we hired them from that time.”

“What if she asks us about them?”

“She seems to have given up on it a long time ago,” Ayesha replied simply.

Adam said nothing. He knew that Gamora didn't ask for pride. Or would wounded honor be the best expression? Or for fear of the answer. He didn't know about her past, but it was remarkable how reserved, afraid and how much she was always trying to protect herself and keep everyone away. From what little he knew he had been told that she was one of Thanos' adopted daughters, one of the worst monsters the universe has ever known, which most likely could be the cause of her behavior, in addition to the hostility of the sovereigns.

“Say they are dead,” the priestess said coldly to Alia. “As the child suggested.”

“Even if we find them... Alive?”

“She doesn't need any more incentives to escape. When we find them we will monitor them, and attract them at the most convenient time to destroy them,” she said looking at Adam. “This is the mission you were born for. I hope I don't have to start warning you not to get attached to any prisoners or enemies.”

“I’m not.”

“You don't behave like you were not.”

Ayesha paused, standing as still and cold as an ice pack sitting in her chair.

“Order and formality have kept us as a rich and prosperous people for centuries on end. It would be ridiculous and unacceptable for our best and most advanced exemplary to put these precepts at stake.”

“And the child?”

Ayesha was silent again. A tension settled between the three, and Alia looked apprehensively from Adam to the leader.

“We will find a family to raise it, far enough away that it cannot be found.”

“Why should we fight against one and protect the other?”

Ayesha looked impatiently at Adam in such a comical way that Alia tried hard not to laugh, luckily succeeding.

“A child who declares war to us and has enough power to frighten our best guards does not need your pity and concern.”

“What if one day the child comes back to take revenge? The one about to be born,” Alia clarified.

“She will never know what happened. And why would she care about parents she never met?”

The two younger ones were silent, waiting for Ayesha to speak more.

“We were never created in such a way. And every day I am more sure that it was the best path to take. What would we gain from conventional families? Time wasted on various things that do not contribute to daily task performance and development in various sectors, children who would take precious time that can be used in tasks of greater urgency, time wasted teaching them everything, even basic things like walking and talking, and ties that would complicate our social relationships. In addition to all the extra resources spent on a pregnant woman. It is a very strange thing. May a child who is not even born demand such a strong diet.”

“It's an entire body forming from nothing. Even if it's small, it makes sense that it requires so much of the mother, since it's using her organism to develop,” Adam told him.

“It makes sense,” Ayesha replied without showing any emotion. “But it is still a situation that would not benefit us. Perhaps the constitution of the new body requires this. If one of the others is the father, the genes may need more resources to form a good fit, even though almost all of them have the same physical structure as her.”

Alia chose not to comment on her leader's contradiction in demonstrating that she didn’t care and to demonstrate exactly the opposite afterwards.

“But if Mr. Quill is the father as we believe... It mustn't be a complicated combination. He may be half celestial as rumors say after what happened at that time, but with the source of power inoperative, once it was destroyed, he looks only human, even if he's superior in some abilities.”

Ayesha stared at Alia for a moment, thinking about what she had said, and then looked away at Adam.

“You are the only one who can talk to her. You can search for information.”

“She's the last of her kind. Nor should she know how to explain if it could change anything or how,” Adam told her. “We know that all Thanos' children were kidnapped and brainwashed as children or teenagers. She'll hardly remember anything like that, maybe she didn't even know when she was taken away. But I'll inform you if I find out.”

“It is better this way,” Ayesha said, turning her attention to the information room on the other side of the glass. “You are excused.”

The two bowed briefly before leaving.

******

The two walked out of the palace, enjoying the warm light of the morning sun in the large circular courtyard outside the place.

“Do you think the priestess can...”

Alia looked at Adam, reading the question in his eyes. They were getting good at this with the whole time that Ayesha was making them work together because of Gamora and the Guardians.

“Kill the baby?” She answered in a whisper, as if the question hurt.

Adam nodded.

Alia took a deep breath, thinking about the possibilities.

“She herself said that our laws prohibit this. She couldn't go against the council.”

“You told me that she was against the council before when she decided to pursue the Guardians.”

“But she received a warning, she couldn't do that again. And ending the life of an innocent child who isn't even ours would be much more serious than wanting to take revenge on someone who stole from us.”

The two remained silent for a few moments.

“Are you really going to do that?”

Adam knew what she was asking. And he knew how to answer. He didn't want. But when he wondered what it would be like to betray Ayesha, he had no answers, or saw bad scenarios. Alia had been raised to succeed the priestess one day. How much would she be against or in favor of her? He didn't answer.

“You don't have to care about that now,” she told him. “I'm going to get back on schedule.”

He nodded.

“See you later,” Alia gave him a small smile, which he returned before she walked away.

Adam looked at the sky, it always helped him to think. Again he wondered what Ayesha would say if she found out how he really brought Gamora's memory back, and how he would be punished for hiding. He didn't know why, but deep down he felt he had made the right decision. He also had no idea how he was able to do that, and he wouldn't ask Ayesha.

His thoughts came to what he would actually do when he was finally face to face with all the Guardians. He didn't even know them, but he couldn't kill Gamora. She was too sweet to die, however much she hid it and as deadly as she could be on the other hand. He knew about Ayesha's version of what had happened that day, and he even knew that one of her subordinates even suggested that she was exaggerating in spending so many resources just for the theft of some batteries, even if it was so valuable.

If the information was right, they would still have at least four months until the baby is born. Would Ayesha kill Gamora even if she didn't find the other Guardians?

******

Gamora was distracted by observing the metallic texture of the walls. It was matte and barely glowed. There were also no screws or partitions, except for the division at the points where the walls joined, proving how advanced the sovereigns' building technology was. The ceiling was a lighter color, but still gray and sad. The circular lamp could be switched on or off at the switch next to the bed. The bathroom door was on the wall opposite the cell door.

Gamora had already spent so much time analyzing that room that it surprised her that she hadn't found any flaws or ideas for escape. Even though Rocket was their specialist in escaping from prisons, and once they had even escaped from a Kree prison, one of the most impossible to escape in the galaxy, she was still able to do so.

Standing still was driving her crazy, frustrating, worrying. The baby would feel it all. She had never stopped for hours to look at the sky. If she ever did that, he had forgotten since Thanos destroyed her childhood. Only when she and Peter were together and became increasingly used to being alone for a few hours listening to the zune and watching the stars did she discover, or remember, how comforting it was. The two would lie on the ground outside the ship, Gamora lying on his chest while Peter hugged her around the waist, or she would sit on his lap and the two would hug with Peter sitting in his chair on the ship's deck. That was all she wanted now.

She heard the footsteps of someone approaching, and recognized them as one of the sovereigns who brought her meals. She didn't even let him finish announcing himself, and repeated the act of shouting and throwing one of her boots against the door, hearing the man exclaim in fright. Gamora can hear his heartbeat quicken, his breathing becames uneven and a tray left on the floor. He seemed to spend several minutes calming down and deciding whether to proceed or not, finally giving up and walking away and out of prison.

Gamora dropped to the floor, and leaned her back on the bed, feeling as bad as possible since she got there. She had no desire to do anything but keep breathing, or maybe not even that, only the baby kept her going, only her lonely conversations with her child, who by now could hear her, gave her reasons to resist. Her baby was all that was left in the Galaxy now as far as she knew.

As if knew what she was thinking, the little one moved, and Gamora raised her hand to the point where she felt the kick, and she was sure that her enhanced senses gave her a privileged experience of the sensations of pregnancy, although she remained willing to never to be grateful that Thanos gave her that.

Returning to focus on her child, Gamora touched the skin under the blouse, and waited. Another smooth movement pushed her hand away. Clearly it was a little foot pushing there, even smaller than it would be when the baby was ready to be born, but she was sure. A sigh of mixed joy and pain left her lips. She should never have entered this planet so recklessly. What state of disturbance should the younger Gamora's mind be in to do such a thing?

It suddenly occurred to her that she never spoke to Peter about it. What would they do if they had a child. They weren't even planning for this to happen. Not like that. It had been an accident. Peter had always been very careful with her in all their moments together, in every way, always talking to her a lot about anything, not wanting to cause any consequences that would bring her something she wasn't ready to feel or deal with.

When he heard about her past and the possible triggers that could have accidentally fired, before the first time, he was afraid of hurting her. And after it happened, he was afraid he had caused her pain and discomfort. Gamora felt her heart sink in love and compassion when they talked about it later. And she remembered very well how she comforted and assured him, because it was true, that she was fine.

And how he cried with her when she told him what had happened, how he promised that no one would ever touch her again to hurt her like that, that he would take care of her until the last second of their lives. The zehoberi believed. And even now, even after Vormir, she didn't regret doing so. Peter hadn't promised to protect her from just that, but from everything and everyone, as he had in fact tried until their last second together. All she wanted now was to get out of there and tell him, wherever he was.

“Gamora?” Adam's soft voice suddenly called.

How could she not have heard him coming?

“Go away,” she replied without thinking, not yet completely free of her thoughts and memories.

As expected, he ignored it, and she heard the click of the lock being unlocked. The golden youth came in carrying the tray that the other sovereign had left on the floor. He sat down beside her and left the tray with fruit, herbal bread and water on the bed. Instinctively Gamora crawled a little away and looked away from the floor. Adam remained silent as he often did, as if he were analyzing her or giving her a chance to speak first.

“The baby needs to be fed.”

She didn’t answer.

“It’s getting difficult for someone other than me to come here.”

Adam didn't lose the way she clenched her fists in anger, clenched her teeth and took a deep breath. Her brown eyes closed, and he already knew that if she opened them, tears would come along.

“You need to feed,” he said in the same gentle tone as before.

He risked touching her shoulder, and he felt the tremor, and the emotions, another skill he had no idea how he could use. Getting stuck was driving her crazy, starting to affect even her physiological functions. Gamora flinched and turned away from him to get away from his touch. Adam decided not to insist and just stood there looking at the floor, starting to feel as frustrated as she did.

He looked at Gamora when she gave up on holding back tears, and the sound of crying filled the bedroom. Adam felt the urge to embrace her, something that was natural to him, and that he found very strange that it wasn't for others. He had embraced a child of another kind from a royal family who had visited the planet before Gamora arrived, and Ayesha scolded him for it later, claiming that handing out samples of affection wasn't part of the presentation of the sovereigns. The little girl mustn't have been more than ten years old and was crying when she was reminded of how her mother disappeared before her eyes for a long five years in the Thanos attack. Adam couldn't just ignore it.

Frustrated as he had never felt before, he decided to leave Gamora alone, no matter how much it hurt. Insisting on an approach would only result in more objects in the bedroom being thrown at him. He took one last look at the zehoberi.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, and he knew Gamora had heard it anyway.


	9. Comfort

“What you are asking me is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard in my entire existence,” Ayesha said, clearly offended.

“But she’s not well.”

“She is just a prisoner. She does not have to be well.”

“But now she just cries or says nothing. And I'm afraid she's not eating well. This can affect the child. If it's in your interest that this child is born so that we can collect data, I think you should consider - Adam tried to argue, doing his best to appear calm and neutral.”

Ayesha was almost a minute in silence, reflecting, as he and Alia already knew.

“We have heard from other peoples that crying is good.”

“Not in that sense, high priestess,” Alia said cautiously from where she was standing next to Ayesha's throne. “Human peoples often speak of this as an expression. It's something about emotions, something that is beyond our understanding, it's not about the body.”

“Many prisoners wept here, and we never let go of any of them to roam the kingdom freely. That would be practically a crime. Because you never know when they're using it to try to arouse pity.”

“If she were that kind of person, she would be using her child for that since the first day.”

Ayesha was silent, her gaze indicating that she couldn’t disagree with that.”

“She looks tired,” Adam spoke again. “We know how mental exhaustion affects the body. If her body is in poor condition, the baby may have problems. And if she loses it, she can die together. Then we'll have nothing more, neither of her nor of the Guardians that you want to find so much.”

“How can you know that?”

“It's just logic. If they are functioning as a single body, anything that happens to one is likely to affect the other. If the child needs time to be born, but to die before... If the body tries to expel before the right time, we have no idea what can happen. And if it stays inside her, it can logically kill her. And we have no idea how it works beyond the most obvious assumptions. If you don't want the entire galaxy to know that she's here, we can't just take her to an ordinary hospital.”

“That's true. I heard reports about a case like that on one of the trips you sent me”Alia said.

“Are you going to insist on that too?” The oldest asked.

“I'm just providing you with data, madam. It is one of my duties.”

“Tell me about it.”

“She was a Krylorian. She was very sick and weak. The birth took all the strength she had left and she couldn't resist. Neither is the baby. The doctors said that her state of sadness and concern contributed to accelerating the disease and that it hindered the child's formation. Although he was apparently perfect on the outside, something that didn't form well on the inside left him as fragile as his mother.”

“I thought that only ordinary human beings had this kind of weakness.”

“Apparently any species that lives without all the control we maintain is susceptible to this,” Alia said. “Although ordinary humans are more.”

“How can they know the child's gender? Is there some kind of intuition?”

“No, madam. It's random. Ordinary hospitals have devices capable of giving this indication when pregnancy progresses a little. But some prefer to find out only at birth.”

The way Ayesha sighed in disappointment made it clear how much she found the uncontrolled reproduction of other species disappointing.

“I give you the afternoon today to resolve what has been assigned. Go quickly.”

Adam continued to stare at the queen.

“What are you looking at? What you asked of me is still out of the question. I'm going to think about what to do while you're gone.”

Adam decided to go. They couldn't get any better than that by pressing Ayesha. One wrong word and she could lose her mind.

“I appreciate it.”

Alia joined him and they both bowed briefly before leaving the palace lobby. They followed in silence to the hangar, where a ship was waiting for them to take them to a nearby planet where they could find a trade more suitable for what they needed.

“Have you gone crazy?” Alia asked when they were alone, with the ship already moving away from the planet of the sovereigns, in a place far from the pilot and co-pilot. “I thought she was going to lose her head and shoot even you in a cell.”

“I cannot ignore what I have seen.”

“There is really something wrong with you,” Alia said, but not in a scolding tone, it was more curiosity. “We were all taught to never be like that. You too. However you are. She created you with a mission to destroy, but you are protecting. Do you really care about her? Or do you feel compassion only for the child?”

“I feel it for any living creature.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know.”

******

“How big will a baby be?” Alia asked suddenly, when they already had everything they needed for Gamora. “Probably also need clothes when it's born. I've heard stories, and I've seen pregnant women, but I've never seen a baby. You should try to ask her that question when you can get her to speak again. What she'll need.”

“I already thought about it, but I haven't heard her voice in days. She didn't say a word any time I went to see her. The priestess tells me to collect information about anything, but she doesn't speak.”

The two continued walking in silence through the stores, until one caught Alia's attention, and the two stopped.

“I never paid attention to this one. Everything here is so... Cute,” the sovereign smiled. “And small.”

“Good morning,” a middle-aged saleswoman smiled at them. “With all due respect, I know your people don't have children that big. But they can still give gifts to friends or visitors who get to know your planet and have them.”

The two exchanged a quick glance, immediately curious and interested in the saleswoman's idea. And if Ayesha was irritated by this, the baby would need clothes anyway. They would have to come here other times anyway.

“Make yourself comfortable and look what you want. Call me if you want something.”

“Thank you,” Alia returned the woman's smile and entered the premises followed by Adam.

The two saw an enormous number of sets of pajamas, shirts, pants, jumpsuits, shoes, gloves and caps of countless colors. Some pieces were bigger than others, but all still very small.

“I have no idea about colors or size,” Adam told her.

“We don't even know what color the baby will be. Let's take something neutral and simple. When you can talk to her again, ask about it. If it serves, we'll take more later.”

After half an hour, the two rested their eyes on a light brown jumpsuit with the design of a small and green animal on the chest. The outfit was closed at the feet, where the fabric was more vivid and soft, and of a lighter tone, looking like a pair of socks attached to the pants. Several buttons allowed the suit to be opened or closed in the center. A pair of mittens and a cap of the same color, but with a more elastic fabric, completed the set.

“It's a good choice when the sex of the child isn't yet known,” the same friendly saleswoman spoke as she approached. “I can pack if you liked it. Our prices are also good, I guarantee it'll be a satisfactory purchase.”

“We'll take this one,” Alia told her.

“I'll pack it right now,” the woman replied while fetching one of the colorful bags from the store.

“We've never seen this animal on our planet,” Adam said.

“It's a frog. A little green frog. They are usually very small animals that jump and feed on insects. Very common on some planets. Some people are terrified of them because sometimes they suddenly jump and scare, but children love them,” the saleswoman laughed sympathetically.

The two left the store a few minutes later, returning to the ship and heading back to the planet Sovereign.

******

Gamora had just showered and dressed when cautious steps and soft taps echoed from the door. It wasn't Adam. And they had already brought food a few minutes before. The sound of the steps indicated that it was a woman, and fortunately not Ayesha, she was smaller than she was.

“Gamora?” Alia's gentle voice called.

The zehoberi didn't answer, nor did she move from where she was sitting on the bed. The sovereign opened the door slowly and looked inside, finally entering when she saw her. She was carrying a package, probably with clothes. But this time there was a colorful bag with it, in a cheerful blue. Alia left what she was carrying on the table and looked at her.

“I brought it as similar as possible to what we found last time. I believe it'll look good on you, and we make sure to look for clothes that suit your condition now. And also... We brought something for the baby. We don't have much idea about that, but he'll also need clothes as soon as he is born, right? Tell us if it's useful, then we'll bring more next time. And when possible, you could tell us what you'll need at birth. We'll provide what is needed.”

Faced with silence, Alia nodded and left. Gamora had an impulse to say thank you when that happened, but what would she be thankful for? For they stealing the time already so subtracted from her life?

She looked at the package on the table, and when she managed to control her anger she decided to get up to check it, always making sure that there were no hidden traps in any item. She found pants and shirts for pregnant women and underwear in a separate package, Alia had already told her that she took care of this alone. There were also nightgowns for pregnant women, the fabric was soft and comfortable. The colors varied between gray, dark green, black, wine and shades of blue. Gamora continued to wonder why the two continued to give importance to the search for colors that could please her or that looked like what she used to use. Surely Ayesha would never mind details like that.

She took the blue bag and studied it. It had no name, but apparently it was from a children's store. She removed the contents and her heart leapt, never expecting to see anything so sweet and beautiful in the conditions in which she was living. The cap had a wool pom pom in an even lighter shade of brown than the fabric, and would fit perfectly on a newborn's head. The mittens had no separation for the fingers, but would be perfectly comfortable for a baby to keep warm. The jumpsuit had closed feet, with a fluffy fabric that served perfectly as socks. Gamora finally managed to smile looking at the little frog painted on the fabric. She dried her eyes and stroked her belly, feeling the baby move, and trying to ignore the thoughts that she and Peter would probably buy their child's first outfit together.

“You're awake,” she smiled when talking to her child. “This is great. Because I have a new story for you.”

She felt the baby's head push slightly below her hand, and was sure he could hear it, even if he didn't understand anything of what she was saying. By now she should have known if she had a boy or a girl. She could choose its name, speak more directly to him or her, but all she could do was wait.

“When your father was a child... He had problems at school with other boys, usually bigger than him, and very badly educated. He once told me how he came back from school with a black eye because he tried to protect a little helpless little frog, just like this one, that other boys were trying to hurt.”

The warrior paused and took a deep breath.

“And after that he went through something so difficult, so sad... That same day. He was still so small and he had to be so strong... And that's how part of your story started, my love. And I won't let it end here. I don't know how. But I'm not going.”


	10. Cruelty

Peter walked alone through the shopping mall near the gas station where they stopped to supply the Benatar. The rest were doing other things and would meet in an hour to leave the planet where they had just completed a mission. Usually he and Gamora would go for walks together on those occasions, sometimes Nebula would accompany them. But lately, without even realizing it, he was always looking for a way to be alone, without the patience to hear what others were talking about, and especially, without any desire to respond or enter the conversation. He had been able to stand firm when it was necessary, for work, but everything returned to the end of each mission.

Seeing missing posters with Gamora's photo scattered in some places didn't help. And Peter was facing one now, on one of the pillars of the mall's lobby. The red and capital letters announced her condition at the top of the sheet, the symbol of the New Corps was in a corner next to the word, her photo managed to make Peter almost as mesmerized as Gamora herself, but now that feeling was also filled with anguish and anxiety. Her face was serious, but at peace, there was happiness in her eyes. It was one of the photos they had taken years ago precisely for identification in the database of the New Corps, as soon as they defeated Ego. They used to renew the photos sometimes. Below the photo were contact details, information about the last time Gamora was seen and the promise of a bonus for real information or an indication of where she might be, as well as the threat of arrest and other worse penalties if any harm was done to her. Peter was pleased that Dey added that last topic.

The green eyes looked back at hers in the image, and she looked so beautiful! As beautiful as his Gamora had always been, Peter had always loved all of her photos, but this had always been one of his favorites, although he loved even more the photos in which she was smiling. He would have reached out to touch the image if there were no other people around. Some looked at him, probably recognizing him, but none bothered him or looked at him with judgment, reinforcing what they had concluded since the arrival that the inhabitants of this planet were quite kind.

He released the breath he was holding, and forcing his eyes not to water, once again decided to try to distract himself in his spare time.

“Thank you, Dey,” he murmured to himself.

He looked at the poster one last time and went in another direction, seeing a series of stores of all kinds along the way. A man was standing watching one of them, and Peter stopped walking trying to remember why he was familiar, but with the mess that was in his head at the time, that was impossible. Suddenly the man looked at him and smiled.

“Good morning young. Would you like to meet our new branch office?”

Peter looked at the establishment he was facing. It was a children's clothing and goods store, apparently for babies and young children. Countless colors could be seen there, both on the exposed clothes and on the colorful walls of the store, both inside and outside, offering an air of joy to the place.

“We don't have kids, but it looks like a great store,” Peter smiled trying to be polite and kind.

Instantly images of his recent nightmares came back to him, and the feeling of how the baby he saw felt real, and the knowledge of knowing it was his. Him and Gamora! The possibility that his Gamora had died pregnant, discovering this in the worst possible way and still having time to suffer before she left.

“Hey... I'm talking to you,” the older man said, but without scolding him.

“I’m sorry... I remembered something important.”

The old man smiled.

“You know... Children usually free us from these things. From these intrusive thoughts of things that disturb us, from the agony of worry that everyday things generate. But even if you don't have children, know that at some point... Everything will be fine, boy.”

“How do you know my memory was a bad thing?”

“It's in your face. I have many years behind my back, I know how to recognize an afflicted face.”

The two were silent for some time, watching the little mannequins and toy babies, some human, others not, wearing some of the little clothes.

“This is one of my favorites,” he said pointing to a toy baby the size of a newborn, wearing overalls with closed feet, a cap and light brown gloves, with a frog drawn on the chest. “Frogs are fun animals,” he said with a nice laugh. “And the kids love them too.”

Peter smiled as he remembered the frog he had saved from aggressive boys at school, even though it reminded him that he had lost his mother a few hours later that same day. Gamora loved this story, even though she felt as sad as he did when she learned of what happened next.

“Our first store has no mannequins, only clothes. We are now expanding to other planets. If you ever have children, or want to give a gift, we'll be available. We serve children of any age. You can read about us on the shopping website on the holonet.”

“Thank you,” Peter smiled already moving to move on. “I’ll remember that.”

“And don't worry. Everything will be fine, Star Lord.”

Peter turned to face him one last time, seeing him with a gentle smile and a strange certainty in his eyes, as if he could read his mind. Convincing himself that he was imagining things, especially with his future so uncertain, he offered a nod to leave, but not before he saw the old man walking into the store and being able to read the name on the back of his vest, Excelxior . That name was also familiar ... But deciding that he wasn't willing to conflict with his disordered memories, he turned in the opposite direction and continued his exploration of the mall.

His feet ended up leading him to the open area outside the large food court on the second floor, which luckily was empty at the moment. Peter ignored the benches next to some trees planted there, and leaned on the protective wall that overlooked to town. The sky was blue and sunny, a pleasant breeze was blowing on his face. Gamora would love to be here now...

“What does it all mean?”

******

Nebula growled softly, irritated by the clumsy child who bumped into her as they headed for the parking lot.

“Look where you are,” she said, containing her irritation and just warning the child.

The group stopped and looked in the same direction as Nebula. The child was wearing a long hooded coat. She turned briefly to look at them, showing dark blue hair and piercing red eyes. Without saying anything, she turned her back on them and left.

“Was it a girl?” Mantis asked.

“I can't tell,” Drax replied.

“Strange colors,” Rocket said. “What kind is this little thing?”

“I am Groot.”

“Me neither.”

“She's familiar...” Nebula forced her mind. “Very familiar.”

“I don't remember seeing her before - Peter said - But we can think about it later or we'll pay extra parking fee if we stay here another ten minutes.”

Nebula agreed and followed him into the ship.

******

Gamora did her best to hide her surprise and anger when Ayesha entered her cell after the two sovereigns responsible for cleaning the place left. The woman stared at her with her cold and empty eyes for several seconds before any of them decided to speak. Gamora had just turned six months pregnant and all she didn't want was a sudden appearance by Ayesha.

“The prison doesn't seem like a suitable place to someone of royalty - the zehoberi pinned, staying where she was sitting on the bed, and instinctively putting her hands on her stomach and keeping her knees bent forward.”

“I am responsible for this entire kingdom. I take care of every inch of it, that includes the prison wing,” she spoke without any apparent emotion in her voice. “You must know that Xandar was wiped out years ago.”

Gamora didn't answer, but felt a pang in her heart when she was reminded that she didn't even have a chance to check the state in which Thanos had left the planet, whether Dey and Nova Prime were alive, what the level of destruction was.

“We also had losses. Fortunately, all were recovered, despite the chaos installed here to put everything and everyone back in place. We exchange information with other planets to find out what situation the galaxy is in.”

Gamora felt herself freezing inside, with the feeling that something bad was going to come of it. Ayesha would never strike up a conversation with anyone without a reason, especially with a member of the Guardians of the Galaxy. The baby moved under her hand, and Gamora stroked the spot lightly with her fingers, worried that her apprehension was affecting him. And Ayesha's curious look at her, even though the sovereign tried to disguise it, was not helping.

“Today we received an update on important individuals in the galaxy. I thought you should know... that your Guardians have not been located, not even helping to rebuild Xandar. Your sister was also nowhere to be found.”

Gamora took a deep breath when an image of Nebula and one of her encounter with the other Gamora suddenly came to her head. Would Gamora from 2014 know anything about Nebula's whereabouts? She couldn't remember...

“There are many missing people reported as dead. From our point of view, this is where they fit now. They are not seen since the phenomenon that everyone calls _snap_. Unfortunately for me. I intended to sentence you all at once. And that is what I will do if they are found at some point.”

Gamora took another deep breath, gathering all her strength to keep from punching Ayesha. The baby kicked harder, which hurt, and her mind was even more disturbed.

“But we will keep our word that nothing will be decided before your child is born. I suggest that you clarify when possible under what conditions this should happen so that the necessary is provided.”

“You're lying.”

“Why would I lie? They were gone, as many others were in this war. It is easier to simply accept the truth. Our people do not usually cling to losses, just get around them and create something new and better. That is why we have high levels of progress and development. It is almost dark. I will let you rest,” she failed before leaving and locking the door again.

Gamora took a deep breath to catch the breath she was holding when she was sure Ayesha wouldn't return. A tremor ran through her body and she felt her legs weaken. Her head weighed as if she had just been hit. The nausea that had left her for months seemed to return, and the tears fell without permission from her eyes. The baby gave her another painful kick and moved faster than usual, making Gamora feel an internal shock of fear. She stroked her belly to try to calm him down, but to no avail, and she felt again in a strong push in her hand. Even though Ayesha was lying, it was inevitable not to be affected by such words.

******

“But is this true?” Adam asked Ayesha as they passed the hall that would give access to the prison entrance hall.

“It doesn't matter if it's true. All you need to know is that if you comment on anything about it with her or any prisoners we may have, I will personally punish you for it, even if I am your creator.”

“What if it affects the child?”

“We still have no evidence that this is possible.”

“Did you do that to test her body ?!”

“I just did what should be done. Before she has the child and feels safe enough to try to escape. She was quite aggressive towards some of ours over the months. I suppose she will be even more so when the child is born. This can cause problems. And it is your duty to inform me if you notice such a reaction.”

Adam was silent, not wanting to believe that Ayesha would be capable of such wickedness, and the rational part of his mind wanted to make sense of the other sovereigns' extreme ignorance and lack of awareness of other people's feelings.

“You are free to take the food to her, as you are now the only one besides Alia who has the courage to do so. Go. And then you are free for the rest of the night.”

Adam watched Ayesha walk away, unable to say anything about the conversation. He nodded to the guards at the entrance to the hall and stepped into the place, pushing the cart they had brought from the kitchen with a tray of porridge and water. He walked lost in thought through the labyrinth of corridors formed between different sectors of the various types of prison cells, pausing as he passed the small central garden, where guards or cleaning staff came to rest between shifts, but it was always empty at night or very early in the morning. If Ayesha allowed him to bring Gamora at least here...

He listened to his ears when he heard a sound that sounded like a scream mixed with crying, and realized that he was already close to Gamora's cell. He continued walking for a few meters until he entered the level 3 cell sector and reached Gamora's door, standing still when he heard her crying again. But there was something different from previous times. It didn't sound like a cry of anger and despair. It was pain and deep sadness.

“Gamora,” he called knocking lightly on the door.

She gave no sign of having heard him, or simply didn't care.

“Gamora! Is there something wrong with the baby? We have doctors. I'm going in, okay?”

Adam unlocked the door and entered carrying only the tray, leaving it on the table and going to the bed where the zehoberi was crying, her back to him, not appearing to have noticed his presence. She flinched and her hands wrapped around her stomach as if in pain, in addition to the fear and sadness present in her eyes.

“My baby... I can't... He's all I have.”

“Can you hear me?” Adam asked as smoothly as he could. “I'll sit here.”

He sat beside the warrior and tried to assess her condition. He didn't have to touch her to see how much she was shaking, and it wasn't just from crying. She cried more when Adam touched her arm, now clearly feeling the chills that ran through her skin.

“The baby...” she murmured in despair.

Adam looked at the place she was protecting, noticing the agitated movement under the cloth.

“He moves...” he said to himself, surprised and worried, he didn't know if that was normal.

“It's moving too much. I don't want to lose him...” she managed to whisper between tears and tremors.

The zehoberi's breathing became heavier, and she cringed more in bed. Adam touched the place where the baby moved, feeling how agitated the child was. Too agitated! This couldn't be normal!

Gamora's muscles contracted briefly when she gave a little cry of pain, tightening her tightness in her belly. Her crying intensified, making her breathing more complicated, and making Adam act on instinct.

“Breathe deeply. I’ll try to help.”

Gamora tried to obey, without much success at first, causing the tremor to be noticed even in her breathing. Adam closed his eyes, keeping his hands on her stomach and her arm, concentrating on feeling Gamora's energy, and he could feel the physical torment she was going through, and the baby, as agitated and desperate as she was, as if he cried too. Adam felt him kick his hand, and heard Gamora moan, indicating that the kick was beyond normal.

The sovereign tried to connect his energy with that of the two, doing his best to breathe calmly. As the minutes passed, he felt the baby calm down, and the movements softened until they were gone. Gamora's breathing became less labored, and her crying turned to lighter sobs.

“Peter...” Adam heard her whisper when he opened his eyes.

The zehoberi cried softly and shivered for a few more minutes, drawing in air to breathe a few times.

“Peter...” she repeated so low that he barely heard.

“Are you alright?”

Gamora didn't reply. Her brown eyes opened, and silent tears rolled down onto the pillow. Anguish continued in her expression. Her heart was still racing, and her temperature seemed to oscillate between ice and sudden heat. She closed her eyes again as more tears flowed, and said nothing more until she was still and her heart began to slow.


	11. Now I’ll never know

“Gamora!” Adam called.

The zehoberi remained immobile and completely unaware. Adam tried to feel the pulse in her neck as he had been taught. Her heart was beating, and she was breathing. He blew out a sigh of relief and tried to decide what to do.

He got up and left the room, thinking about how he would find out where Alia was, and fate seemed in his favor because she was walking towards him in the prison corridor.

“There's something wrong?” She asked when she saw the distress in his eyes. “I was worried that she would be too aggressive or have problems with what the high priestess told her earlier.”

“She fainted.”

Alia's eyes widened for a moment, and she entered the cell followed by Adam, seeing Gamora completely immobile with her back to them.

“Have you found her like this?”

“She was screaming in pain when I arrived, she was crying a lot and was afraid of losing the baby.”

“And the baby?!”

“I don’t know. It was moving under her skin. Should this happen?”

“Yes. It’s normal.”

“How much?”

“How was it moving?”

“Much. She felt pain a few times.”

“ _This_ isn’t normal. Babies do this all the time after the first few months as far as I know, but it shouldn't hurt.”

“And now?”

“It’s better call one of the doctors. We don't have much idea about babies, but they can tell if she's okay.”

“Do you think it's a good idea?”

“We don't have a better one. I’ll choose well who to call. Stay here with her.”

Adam nodded, and pulled the chair from the table, sitting down while he waited for Alia to return. And suddenly he remembered who she had called while dying. _Peter_. Ayesha had told him that the Star Lord, leader of the Guardians, was called Peter Quill. Was he the baby's father? Gamora was in great pain knowing that she had lost him, he felt when he touched her, she loved him more than anything, besides the baby. It must have been him that she was talking about the day they moved her to this cell.

He got up when he heard Gamora mutter something incomprehensible, cringing and crossing her arms over her chest and shoulders, as if trying to protect herself from an invisible threat. She took a deep breath and continued to sleep.

“Adam.”

He turned to see Alia enter with an older sovereign he had met in the medical wing. Adam liked her. She wasn't as cold and robotic as the other sovereigns.

“Good evening,” she smiled at him and immediately went to the other side of the bed, sitting on the edge next to Gamora.

“How many months did you tell me she is? - Asked Alia.”

“Six.”

“And how soon should this happen?”

“I believe there are nine, at least with humans. I think this can vary with other species. We aren’t sure, but the baby may be half human.”

“She looks very human. Like us. We don't have much of a difference other than color and some skills. The nine months will probably continue,” the woman commented while taking Gamora's temperature with a laser device. “She is unique. I have no idea what would be normal in her species, I'll use the average standards among similar species that we know, including ours. She's 37 degrees. I consider this normal.”

“Her heart was racing,” Adam told her.

The woman took some time to assess the zehoberi's breathing, and gently put away one of Gamora's arms to feel the pulse and then attach a medical device there. She adjusted a mechanism on the digital reader and the fabric-covered device began to inflate. Still sleeping, Gamora moaned and tried to walk away, but the nurse carefully grabbed her arm and held it in place.

“If she moves it can change the result,” she explained to the two youngest.

When the device beeped, she checked the data on the monitor and removed it from the zehoberi's wrist.

“Her pressure is a little low, but not worrying. I believe it'll return to normal until she wakes up. It must have dropped suddenly, so she passed out. But she's fine now.”

“And the baby?” Alia asked.

“I know as much about pregnancy as any of us, my child. All I know is what you told me. We never went through this here.”

Even so the woman touched Gamora's stomach, looking surprised and smiling when she felt the baby move.

“I didn't know they could do that.”

She put on a stethoscope and touched the device to the baby.

“Very interesting. I can hear two hearts. The strongest must be hers. But the baby's is surprisingly strong and active for someone who isn't even ready to be born yet.”

“So are both okay?” Alia asked her.

“I believe so. She went into nervous shock over what you told me, and it was too much for the body to handle, despite her build being so strong. She could have lost the child if they are connected as a single body. She was very lucky to pass out before a worse reaction occurred. Let her sleep and wake up naturally. And give her water when she wakes up, it'll help her feel better faster.”

“Thank you very much,” Alia thanked her with a smile when she got up to leave.

“I must go now.”

The older one left, leaving the two alone with Gamora.

“You have something to do with it, don't you?” Alia asked.

Adam just shook his head positively.

“How?”

“I don't know... I felt her energy, and I tried to calm her down.”

Alia looked at him, but she didn't know what to say.

“Do you think she'll be fine when she wakes up? Or aggressive or sick?”

“I don’t know. But I believe I have found out who the baby's father is.”

“And who would it be?”

“Before losing consciousness she called twice for someone named Peter.”

“The earthling who said those things to the high priestess... Gamora didn't look happy when that happened.”

“What things?”

Alia suppressed a chuckle.

“Nothing important.”

******

“You have been defective more often than usual lately. Glad you don't do that on missions.”

Peter looked up to face Nebula when she entered the kitchen and sat across from him. It was too late, and everyone was asleep. Peter had had more strange dreams and decided to get up to cool his head.

“You haven't eaten and slept well either. My sister would kill you for herself if she knew you were so careless about yourself.”

Peter's gaze saddened, and Nebula confirmed her suspicions.

“You had another dream,” she said.

Peter sighed and looked at her again.

“And I don't know what they mean.”

“The pain has many cycles before it subsides. And it's not always possible to escape from them. They'll pass you asleep or awake, whether you like it or not. And it's important for recovery. She taught me that.”

“I don't know... Why would I dream about a baby so much?”

“You said you wanted to have children one day. She told me about it herself once. She was happy that you wanted the same.”

Peter looked at her in surprise, making it clear that he was unaware of this fact, and he managed to smile until the main subject of the conversation returned to his thoughts.

“I know... But it was too real. Too real for something I only imagined a few times. And today I dreamed of that night. When she accidentally poisoned herself with the blood of that space monster that we killed shortly after Ego.”

“A memory...”

“Kind of different. Gamora resisted well that night. But in the dream she cried, and screamed. She called to me as if she couldn't see that I was right next to her. She said she didn't want to miss something... But I can't remember what.”

Nebula said nothing while reflecting.

“She didn't even look hurt or sick, just... upset and in a lot of pain.”

“Were you _there_ again?”

Peter knew she was talking about Vormir.

“No. In the last dream there was...”

“I know...” this time Nebula spoke softly, also emitting pain in her voice.

“There was a lot of blood. And there was a baby again. She handed him over and told me to take care of him. He seemed to have just been born. I don't know if it was a boy or a girl. They were both crying. She was so sad...”

Nebula looked down to hide the tears that came to her eyes, although she knew that Peter was in the same state and he didn't care to hide it. This was still a sequel to Thanos that she struggled to erase. Tears and any signs of vulnerability would always be grounds for punishment and humiliation. Something that Gamora had overcome much faster than she would certainly be able to, with Peter's help. And Nebula was grateful to him for that, even though she didn't tell him.

“Your subconscious has strange ways of handling it,” she said.

Peter gave a sympathetic laugh, but soon hid his face in one hand, no longer bothering to cry in front of Nebula. He had been crying a lot lately, and he wondered if that made him a fool. But Gamora would say exactly the opposite, tell him to cry whatever he needed, because she was there for him. However she wasn't now. And that was precisely the cause of his tears. To know the way she was taken from them, how she was brutally murdered, how she died alone in a dark, cold and gloomy place, how unfair and sad her life was, despite how happy and loved she was with the Guardians. And how Peter wanted to tell her that again! He would give anything to get that thought to reach her wherever she was, be she her Gamora or the 2014 Gamora, lost somewhere in the galaxy. How she was loved! As she always would be!

“I would...”

Nebula looked at him.

“I wanted to marry her. I was going to ask. I was thinking about it so much before we met Thor. I thought maybe... Gamora wasn't ready for that yet. I didn't want to pressure you. I wanted to be sure. I wanted her to be happy and not full of doubts and fear when I asked.”

“Peter...”

“I should have asked for it anyway. Now I’ll never know. And she’ll never hear.”

“Peter...” Nebula paused to close her eyes for a second and stop herself from crying - Don't give me this story that you should have done this or that even more for her, because if there was anyone in her entire life since she met Thanos who loved her, more than anyone has ever loved anything or anyone in the universe, it was you. You were the best thing that happened to her and to all of us. I'm sure that despite the way it happened, she was grateful and indescribably happy to have lived with you, your demented Earthman. So don't go regretting what didn't happen. None of us had a way of knowing anything.

Peter took a deep breath and wiped his eyes.

“You have a weird way of praising people.”

“Everything in my life was out of the ordinary, why should my arguments be any different? Despite how obvious everything I just said should be to you.”

He smiled, although sadness remained in his eyes.

“She wouldn't want to see you that way - Nebula spoke in the kindest way that Peter had ever heard her say something.”

“I know.”

“I have also dreamed of her. Mostly only memories of bad things with Thanos, or rare moments of truce and happiness that we had. And sometimes things that didn't even happen.”

“She also dreamed of you sometimes.”

Nebula looked back at him with the revelation.

“On many nights I had to calm her down in the middle of the night. Because she had dreamed that Thanos had killed or hurt you a lot. Or he had forced her to hurt you in some way.”

“She never really told me because she had the irritating habit of calling me in the middle of the night. Or because you did that sometimes. She said she had nightmares, but she never specified what they were about.”

“She once dreamed of the day she met you, and she cried a lot. She said she wished it had been different, that she didn't want to have treated you that way.”

Nebula's gaze saddened even more, and she looked down again.

It wasn't her fault. She already had modifications, was still broken from the trauma she suffered before receiving them, and was under brainwashing by Thanos. She was fourteen and I was eleven. I hated her for years because of that day. There were two guards with her. Even if she had acted differently, they would have attacked me in her place. And I'm sure they wouldn't be so pious. I also wish I had made it clearer to her what I think about it now.

The two were silent for seconds that seemed like an eternity.

“How long will this last?” Peter asked.

“I don't know... But I also wanted it to end soon.”

Peter said nothing when he saw silent tears leave his friend's eyes, and he also couldn't utter a word when she reached for his hand and intertwined their fingers, and the two cried together.

******

_“Shh... I'm here, honey. You're alright. Our baby is safe. It was just a scare.”_

_She sighed with relief and instinctively pushed her back a little closer to Peter's chest, feeling him hold her tighter, stroke her hair, and kiss her cheek._

_“_ _You're fine, I'm with you.”_

_“I love you.”_

_Gamora felt herself warm up inside when he gave a little laugh full of love._

_“_ _I love you more,” Peter spoke in his best Star Lord tone. “More than the starlight. More than anything.”_

_She didn't know how he had found her in the prison of the sovereigns. Or how he had passed through the guards and Ayesha, but it was the less important now. Ayesha had lied as she already knew. Peter was alive, and he was with her now._

Gamora moaned and cringed under the blanket when she opened her eyes, immediately feeling the frustration of realizing that it was all a dream. The baby responded immediately, kicking lightly, as if he were as frustrated as she was. It was warm and comfortable, but she felt weak as if she had been training for hours or had just finished an exhausting mission. The bedroom was a little dark. She reached for her belly, gradually remembering what had happened, and almost panicked again. She took a deep breath as she felt the baby move and kick again, much calmer this time, and without causing her any pain. She closed her eyes while she calmed down and played with her child, provoking him to move again, so that she was sure that she hadn't lost him and they were both well.

“There you are,” she smiled. “Good.”

It suddenly occurred to her that she didn't remember well what had happened. It hurt a lot, and the baby was abnormally agitated and kicking her with much more force than it should, as if agonizing with her. She remembered hearing her own screams, and crying. Someone had come into the bedroom and called for her... Adam maybe? She had called for Peter, and he came, but only in her dreams, which opened another hole in her heart now.

Before passing out, she was sure for an instant that she would lose her baby, the last memory she had left of him, and that she would die together. How had she come back? What or who saved them? It was impossible to have reversed her condition on her own, and she didn't believe that fainting would save her and the baby, only putting them at more risk.

She tried to sit up, and felt dizzy, taking a few moments to be stable. When she managed to get up, she walked slowly to the table, watching the food left with a large jug of water. Gamora poured the contents into a glass and drank, gradually feeling less stunned. But her body asked for more rest. She couldn't tell if her sadness or her nervous breakdown was making her weak, but resting was the best thing to do now. She would feed on waking up. And she hoped she wouldn't dream of Peter again. Perhaps if she tried to fall asleep thinking of the fantasy stories that Mantis and Groot, as a baby, so enjoyed, with the right to colorful winged unicorns and rivers of chocolate, she mightn't be so frustrated upon waking up. Ayesha had to be lying, and she would stick to it. But all she needed now was to sleep again.

She decided to use the bathroom first, sighing with relief when she realized there was no blood between her legs or on her clothes. A sign that he hadn't reached a level dangerously close to losing the baby or having a premature birth.

When she returned to the bedroom, she settled herself back under the covers, which she realized were new and warmer than the ones she used to use, someone must have brought them. Certainly Adam or Alia, they were the only sovereigns who seemed to have some empathy. She would be grateful if they weren't part of it all.

“Do you want to hear a story?” She asked stroking the belly again. “Mom needs a lot to rest now, dear. And you too. So it'll be a short story today. You have an adoptive brother, as I told you before. And a very cheerful and loving aunt. She and your brother, as a baby, loved fantasy stories, especially those on Earth that your father told us. They didn't make any sense,” Gamora managed to laugh. “But they were beautiful. There were magical and winged beings, full of bright and beautiful colors like a rainbow, and whole places made of candy, with rivers of chocolate, as well as huge gardens full of colorful flowers and magical creatures that helped and protected humans and nature, or good people with magical powers or very beautiful stories. They both love these stories. And I love you, my love - she said as her eyes closed, and then sleep took her again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *NOTE: For those who don't know what Peter was talking about the night Gamora was poisoned by accident in a battle against a space monster, read my one shot "You're safe here". And about the way she and Nebula met, you can check out the third season of the Guardians' animation, although I don't remember which episode. If it hasn't been removed, you can find it on Netflix.


	12. Mystery

“Is this serious?”

“We wouldn't make that up, madam,” Alia replied as they chatted in one of the palace's meeting rooms.

All the furniture in the place was pearly white, standing out on the golden walls and navy blue carpet of the place, including the shiny wood of the chairs and the huge oval table in the center of the room. The white ceiling helped to better reflect the light from the cylindrical chandelier stuck in the center of the ceiling. Transparent acrylic ornaments adorned the sides of the piece, producing a design similar to a DNA sequence.

“With all due respect,” Adam started, immediately attracting Ayesha's eyes. “If you want to follow the process so badly, I think you could have waited a bit to tell her this. She could have lost the child. And she could have died together.”

“And how do you know that?”

“She passed out,” Alia said. “She went into nervous shock, and passed out. Adam said she was crying and screaming in pain.”

“How can simple news cause such physical pain?”

“We don't know about her case,” Adam spoke again. “But the baby was moving...”

“Is it possible to see that?”

“Yes,” Alia told her. “They do this after the first few months.”

“But it was much more than normal. She felt pain with every movement and was afraid of losing him,” Adam concluded.

“It certainly hurts to be kicked from the inside out. It is further proof that our methods of creation are much more sophisticated and practical.”

“No, madam - Alia said - If I may explain... Babies are very small, no movement of them under these circumstances should hurt. It's one of the few dice I got from random missions you sent me. So it wasn't normal for her to scream in pain.”

“This is very interesting,” the priestess spoke with a curious and lost look for a few moments. “Could you explain to me how she is still alive?” The woman asked as if it were the most normal question in the world.

“She passed out like we told you,” Adam said.

“I took the liberty of taking one of our nurses to see her. We didn't know what could happen. She said that fainting saved her from the worst. Although none of us have any idea what would happen if the nervous breakdown hadn't been stopped, she believes Gamora could have lost the child. Or even worse. There was a sudden fluctuation in her blood pressure, which caused her to faint, which fortunately stopped the nerves from getting out of control.”

“And what is happening now?”

“She remains asleep for now. I took a warmer blanket for her, it was a suggestion from the infirmary.”

“Her temperature fluctuated too before she passed out,” Adam said.

“How long do you think the child will be here?”

“Three months if the baby was human. But I don't know about her species, it could be more or less. I think it's unpredictable once we are sure that the baby is mixed race.”

“It will be interesting to deduce who the other creator may be,” Ayesha said referring to the child's father. “Although I believe there is no doubt about it. He seemed like an expert in that kind of situation.”

Alia used all her strength to stop herself from laughing and being serious at that moment, and wondered if they should tell Ayesha about Gamora calling Peter Quill in her delirium. But exchanging a discreet look with Adam, she decided not to. As much as Ayesha was definitely interested in analyzing the gestation and birth process, she was also clearly pleased with the possibility of psychologically torturing one of the Guardians of the Galaxy, especially as the most brilliant member of the group, who would certainly receive any impact with more depth. Nobody knew about it after all. Alia hadn't even told the nurse. Ayesha would take advantage of this if she knew, and even though she didn't know, Alia knew that she would provoke Gamora about it. And the medical instructions had been clear. Another shock and nothing was certain about the life of the prisoner or the child, especially due to the impossibility of adequate assistance since the sovereigns had no knowledge about this type of reproduction.

“Did she say anything while she was awake?” Ayesha wanted to know, as if reading their thoughts.

“No,” Adam replied in the most convincing acting tone Alia had ever seen. “She just said she was afraid of losing the baby. She was delirious when I got there. I heard the screams before I even reached the corridor of her cell. That was all she said besides screaming and crying in pain.”

“This should be added to the reports,” Ayesha said.

“Madam, if I may...” Adam started, fearing denial, but he needed to try. “It's very clear that prisoners who are isolated for a long time have an increasing level of stress. This has been proven in past experiences in any type of incarceration, whether or not ours. I ask you to consider letting her out for a few minutes at some point during the day, at least to the garden in the center of the prison. The medical instructions were clear. Another shock and we don't know what can happen. If Alia is right, there are only three months left to complete the information gathering you want. And I think it's obvious that it'll be more effective if she's alive for that.”

“Can what happened last night affect the birth?”

“We don't know,” Alia replied. “The nurse told us that if she doesn't recover well, it's likely that she will. And that she should rest as much as possible in the next few days.”

“That will not be a problem for her, obviously,” the queen said, in a rare moment of sarcasm. “But giving prisoners such freedom can make them more daring than they should.”

“She's pregnant, and now debilitated. In addition to not knowing the ways of the palace, let alone the prison. She would be recaptured before she reached the prison wing exit.”

“She had a lot of time to think of an escape while the baby was smaller and she was less limited. I don't think she would risk it now. It seems to be the most important thing in the entire universe,” Alia added.

Ayesha was silent for so many minutes that the two almost thought that the priestess had developed the ability to sleep with her eyes open.

“This can be used to our advantage,” she said suddenly, almost startling them both.

“How would that work?” Alia asked.

“Much talk with prisoners is on our list of potential risks. But apparently she trusts you,” she said to Adam. “You may be able to discover data that we don't have yet. Or how it will happen. And what she may need when the child arrives.”

“I don't know if she would say that much. It seems extremely personal,” Adam replied.

“It is common for other species inferior to ours. I don't see how it can be so personal. Countless beings in the universe are apparently born that way. And she is just a prisoner. There is no reason to give her privileges. This is your new mission. Work on it, and I leave you free to take her for half an hour, two days a week, to the central garden of the prison wing, at the time you find it most convenient, or when she is not at rest as instructed by the infirmary.”

Adam didn't know how to respond immediately, feeling his own principles clash with Ayesha's ideas. But this is the best he would have of her. Then he smiled as best he could at his leader.

“I sincerely thank you, high priestess. I'll do my best.”

“Alia...” she spoke with another distant look, as if remembering something. “I believe you once reported seeing a newborn.”

“Yes madam. But I didn't get a chance to see him very closely. And he was wrapped in a blanket in his mother's arms. I just saw him from a distance. They are completely dependent early in life.”

“At what point?”

“Apparently they don’t know how to speak when they are born. That's all I know.”

“This is an important information. And one more good reason to continue our traditions.”

“Madam... The Guardians... Are they really... dead?”

“If they are not, nobody here needs to know.”

“Some of our people have seen posters of the New Corps on some planets. They're even offering a reward.”

“They cannot know that we are with her. Our anti-tracking system is of sufficient quality to block even the most powerful trackers in the galaxy. Our allied ships and planets also have them.”

“Should I consider the New Corps as part of my original mission?”

“They do not usually interfere with personal matters. And it would be prudent not to get involved with any authority on other planets. But consider being ready to get them out of your way if it is suddenly necessary. And without harming them if possible.”

Adam nodded.

“You are excused.”

The two bowed briefly and left the room, leaving Ayesha alone with her personal thoughts and questions about whatever it was.

******

Gamora spent the following weeks trying not to wear out, and to rest as much as possible. As the days passed, her weakness quickly diminished, a sign that the pregnancy wasn't affecting her cyber improvements or her accelerated healing. Two weeks later she went back to doing small exercises inside the cell when she was alone, this would help her body to have more flexibility when the time came. Training almost daily was always a routine for her, before and after the Guardians, which made it easier to continue even with the limitations of the pregnancy and the whole situation she lived.

The baby looked fine, and she was more relieved every day that she felt him move or realized that he had grown a little more without anything out of the ordinary happening. And she couldn't help thinking that she should already know many things about her son or daughter by now, such as sex, quirks, favorite sleeping positions, or even if everything was really okay with the little one's health and her own. Perhaps she and Peter were in heaven making changes in their bedroom to accommodate the baby, and having fun choosing names. And Gamora thought about it almost every day. Not having grown up with her people left her with no idea what to choose, so her life with Peter would be the basis for choice. She was sure she would call a girl Meredith. If Peter were with her, she was sure that this would be his wish, she would make the suggestion herself before he manifested. The name wasn't only very important to him, it was beautiful as well.

She had doubts about a boy. She could call him David. Peter still admired the actor, but it had become a memory he preferred not to visit after Ego. She could also call him Kevin, and she was sure Peter would like this one. It was a sweet and important memory for both of them, the first story of so many that Peter had told her, of the first moment when they really connected, and that, Gamora realized after denying for months, made her fall in love with him, even though she had only admitted to herself when they danced at Ego. Remembering that brought new tears to her eyes, and Gamora allowed herself to cry as she sat on the bed and caressed her belly, feeling the soft movements of her silent conversation with her child. She needed to recover well, and having another nervous breakdown wasn't in question, so she decided not to fight her emotions for the time being.

She took a deep breath when she recognized Adam's footsteps in the hall. She had been avoiding him since that day. He and anyone who passed outside, even without entering her cell. She always tried to sleep, or pretended to do it when he came to see her or bring her supplies. She tried her best to stop crying when he announced in the same gentle voice he always was coming in and left food and water on the table like so many times before. But her body didn't obey, and her tears didn't stop flowing. Gamora wished he would leave, even though she now knew that it didn't seem like his personality to ignore sad people.

She heard the man crouch in front of her, and knew that he looked at her patiently for the nearly two minutes she continued to cry.

“Are you alright?” He asked one more of so many times when she took her hands from her eyes to see him.

Again her brain almost went short. Adam hardly looked like a sovereign at times like this. Only his color denounced this. He had a much more human look than any of the others that Gamora had known, even more than Alia, who Gamora judged to be the only sovereign with some sense of humanity that she knew, and who also had a much more peaceful and kinder look than the others.

“Do you feel any pain?” Adam insisted on asking.

Gamora just shook her head, and he continued to look at her with concern for a few moments before getting up. She thought he was finally going to leave, and she wasn't ready for what he said next.

“After you eat, if you want... There is a place I would like to show you.”

She tilted her head slightly, literally not understanding his suggestion.

“The nurse who helped you when you passed out said that if it happens again, it can really hurt you and the child, and that it would be advisable to try to keep you more calm. The high priestess Ayesha authorized me to let you stay for a few minutes in the central garden of the prison wing, two days a week, at any time possible.”

“I don't need your priestess's mercy,” she said quietly while wiping her eyes.

“Gamora... You have no idea how much and how long I had to insist and argue to get permission. Alia also helped. It’ll do you both good.”

Gamora reflected. Adam seemed too good to agree with Ayesha's dubious intentions, she could be using him to collect data about her pregnancy. Or maybe Adam was a stupidly good actor, which Gamora doubted. Years with Thanos have taught her well to recognize every micro expression of people who denounce evil or lies. She wasn't always able to be sure right away, Ego was proof of that, but she realized that there was something wrong with Mantis, and now she was sure she would figure it out if it were with Adam.

Walking through the prison wing could also provide her with data. How the prison worked, if the cells could be moved without the prisoners realizing, if there were levels, what the guards' dynamics were, and maybe even mapping the place. It was still a long shot when it came to Ayesha, but it was better than nothing.

“I'll wait at the door, outside. Don't rush to eat or anything else you need to do first. I'm free for the rest of the night. You will come? We won't find guards on the trail if that worries you.”

Adam waited patiently while she thought for a few more seconds.

“Give me a few minutes,” she finally answered.

Gamora saw him let out a small sigh of relief, still failing to sue how someone who was practically one of her enemies was worrying about her. She watched Adam leave as he had promised and heard him lean against the wall outside the cell.

She got up and looked at the dark gray dress she was wearing. It only went up to the knees, and the sleeves were no more than elbows. She took a sweater of the same color and put it on, also putting on a black leggings, adapted to her condition, and her boots. The outside was cold at night. She sometimes noticed that the cell door had been opened and a cold wind blew. She was unaware of the seasons on the planet of the sovereigns, perhaps they were approaching winter.

She sat at the table and ate while she reflected, trying to understand how Ayesha expected someone as sweet as Adam to be a destroyer. Several times Gamora wondered if he had ever thought of betraying his master, whether by refusing to hurt the Guardians or to follow any other absurd order. But it seemed unlikely. The months dragged on, and she saw no evidence of it, which convinced her that such thoughts were just her head playing with her, her despair and anguish, or her hope playing tricks on her.

After finishing dinner and taking some time to use the bathroom, and then thinking a little more about whether or not to accept Adam's offer, Gamora decided to move on, and her pride left her in doubt as to how to make him aware that she was ready to go. But seeming to read her thoughts, he even slightly opened the door to check her when Gamora was already standing before it.

“So will you come?” He asked again.

She nodded and followed him outside, staring at the door when she heard it being locked, and feeling a twinge of disappointment and sadness at knowing that this wasn't a final farewell to that place. She had also wondered if there were really no guards outside, to handcuff or escort her along the way. And she was sure she would resist and refuse the offer if those were the conditions. But again Adam had spoken the truth. And she found herself following him through the gray and metallic corridors of the prison.

The first thing Gamora noticed is that the place really had different levels of treatments for the prisoners. In the corridor to the right of her was the path to the cells where she had spent her first days there, which were still able to offer some dignity to the prisoners, despite being colder, uncomfortable, and much less private. In another corridor, even at a distance, her improved vision allowed her to identify even smaller cells, with a partition in a corner that should have been a tiny bathroom. A bench of stone also served as a bed. Then she and Adam passed cells, on the left, which appeared to be much more sophisticated. They apparently had nothing different from what she occupied now. But she knew that the security system in them was much more rigid and there were even cameras inside, except in the bathrooms. She knew because it was in one of those cells that Nebula was kept years ago, one of the things her sister told her when their meetings and conversations became more peaceful and kind. Gamora also noticed numbers in some places on the wall, from 1 to 4 according to the type of cells. She was now in sector 3, which confirmed that the number was rising according to the level of security and convenience of the prison cell.

Her analysis was interrupted when she tried to deduce which paths would lead to possible exits from the site, and Adam announced that they were in the garden. It took Gamora a few seconds to get back to reality, and she looked at the place closely. It was a large circular clearing in the center of the prison. It would be one of the most beautiful things she has ever seen if it weren't for where she was. There was green grass covering much of the dirt floor, colorful flowers sprouted in some places, and a few small trees were spread out near golden benches scattered across the clearing. She had seen places like this on several planets, including Xandar, and found that she adored them, which made Peter start looking for places like this to go with her, and they had created many unforgettable moments in that way. She noticed that the lack of animals made the place a little strange, butterflies and small insects, which inevitably reminded her of Mantis. But the beauty of the place was still undeniable. And it was amazing that a people as cold as the sovereigns were able to create something like that inside a prison.

“Do you want to sit down?” Adam took her out of her thoughts.

Gamora nodded and sat down on the nearest bench. Adam sat down in front of her.

“I have orders not to leave you alone. But I can stay further if it make you more comfortable.”

“No. It's all right.”

“You can also walk through the garden if you want. We have half an hour.”

“I'll do that in a little while.”

The two were silent for several minutes then. Gamora was grateful that he let her breathe out of the cell, both literally and figuratively. Her thoughts initially focused on the beauty in the place, then on the cells she could see around and in rooms she didn't know what they were about, possibly used by the staff responsible for the place, and then for nothing in particular, her tired mind just wanted to exist for a few moments. She caressed the belly unconsciously, no longer caring that Adam watched the baby's movements with curiosity, now that he already knew this was normal.

“Do you have a name for him?”

“I still don't know if it's a boy.”

“We always know. I thought it would be possible that way too.”

“It's possible. But I myself have no way of finding out until the moment arrives.”

Adam felt uncomfortable remembering Ayesha's orders to investigate. He had asked Gamora this out of simple and pure curiosity, not feeling comfortable with the possibility of putting her or the baby in danger. That thought made him abstain from further questions for the rest of the time. They only talked occasionally about the garden, and Adam told her how there were some sovereigns who liked places like that, even though Ayesha was neutral about it.

On the way back to the cell, Gamora mentally mapped the place for the second time, now making sure that she would be able to go back and forth alone at any time if she wanted and could, and even in different ways. The sadness in Adam's eyes as he locked her again left new questions in her head. And Gamora managed to do what she had been holding back for months, even though a part of her still felt angry about it.

“Thank you,” she told him before he left.

Adam seemed visibly surprised to hear, when he was already opening the door to leave, and stood there staring at her for a moment before opening a smile, saying good night and leaving. Gamora wasn't happy with that last kindness, trusting people too much could be her undoing. She knew this was part of Thanos' brainwashing, but she had enough discernment to know that she could be right in certain situations. She got rid of her boots, coat and pants before sliding under the covers and tightening them around her, trying to feel a little of what would be the safety and comfort of Peter's arms around her if he were there.


	13. Alert

Gamora was almost eight months pregnant. Adam continued to maintain the routine of taking her to the central prison garden twice a week, usually at night, when the movement of guards and other local officials was almost always zero. Sometimes in the morning or in the afternoon.

As she became more and more familiar with the path, she began to observe other things, remembering that only the second time she left she thought about checking the roof of the place, where it was possible to see the sun and clouds very, very far away, or the moon and stars at night. The upper floors should contain other cell blocks, or administrative rooms in the palace. There wasn't much to hold on to once someone was up there, but it was possible to climb. Or it would be, if the ceiling wasn't completely sealed by arabesques of gilded metal and glass, probably very resistant, forming a natural sunroof. It wasn't worth the effort, running away in her condition would be suicide. And even if she weren't pregnant, how could she overcome this structure? And what would she do if she got to the other side? Even if she managed to get safely to the ground, she would need a ship to leave the planet, or find a hangar and leave illegally, which would take a long time since Gamora had no idea where this could be.

Fleeing through the prison's main door or other exit was her least impossible option. The Gamora from 2014 could be confused, bewildered, frightened, and not have knowledge about the sovereigns, but that was an advantage she had. She could take down the guards easily. But the problem would be the route outside the palace. Alone she would have a good chance, even against an army of men. But with her baby, that risk was also much greater than any chance of escape. Fear shook her every time she turned to the only option that seemed safe to her. Wait for the child to grow up, and the two could escape together more safely. If Ayesha didn't kill her after the baby was born, if she and her child survived long enough for that. The thought of spending years in confinement terrified her. How would she raise a baby in a prison?

Gamora shook her head slightly to ward off such thoughts, determined to continue looking for alternatives. Ayesha hadn't visited her in person again, which was already wonderful to keep her mind more focused. The random employees also stopped showing up after Gamora terrorized each one enough to them even avoid her cell corridor, and now they believed that the pregnancy was the source of her aggressiveness. Gamora laughed when she heard one of them whisper it outside in conversation with some other employee. It was partly true. But she would let them think that.

Only Adam or Alia came to see her now. Last time Alia had brought more baby clothes, in different colors and more cheerful than the last time. Again she had insisted on knowing what Gamora would need for the birth and the afterwards, and the zehoberi decided that there was no point in putting it off any longer. She wouldn't be able to achieve anything alone anyway. So Adam had brought her a newborn kit the day before. There were two baby bottles, two pacifiers, a nasal aspirator, diapers for newborn, and two hooded towels, all ranging from blue, pink and green. The vacuum cleaner was green, and the other items one of each color, blue or pink. Gamora had no idea if the sovereigns had any idea about the Terran tradition of colors for children. Probably not, since almost everything on the entire planet was golden. But it would fit well, since she didn't know the gender of the baby.

While checking the items Gamora laughed as she remembered the confused face of the two young sovereigns when she talked about some of these objects, some of which they had no idea that they even existed, and that they probably had trouble finding wherever they were purchased. She also said that she would need a bathtub for the baby, and warm water available, as well as waterproof bags, a crib, and specific surgical instruments, which left them almost horrified. When Alia asked her if she would need help and how risky the birth would be, Gamora just said she would take care of the details herself, as long as she had what she needed. She was sure that this last request could be the most difficult, since certainly Ayesha would be afraid to make available items that she could use as weapons.

A part of her was afraid. She only had an idea of everything she needed from the accidental knowledge she acquired on random missions with the Guardians, which she remembered well, and the research she and Peter did out of sheer curiosity on the few occasions they discussed having children one day. She had never actually seen what she was going to have to do, and she had never done anything like that except for her modifications, but her theory and motor coordination would have to do. She would not trust her child's arrival to any sovereign or stranger. Knowing that she probably only had a month left worried her even more, but there was simply nothing to do. That was what she had, and she would have to go through it. At least that was the time she hoped it would last. Peter had told her that humans wait for nine months, but Gamora had no better idea of the weather of her kind. She hadn't lived long enough with her parents and her people to be interested in knowing something like that.

Zehoberis were naturally more advanced than humans at various points, such as physical strength, endurance, accelerated healing and other more enhanced senses. Gamora's modifications only reinforced what she already had. Perhaps babies were born before on her planet, or even a little later, but she would never find out.

Thinking about such things brought back the few distant memories she had of home, her parents' faces, and her happy days before Thanos, and a sad feeling of longing. She had revealed to Peter that she was feeling this since the two were alone shortly after they defeated Ronan. He couldn't say anything, just reflected her sadness in his eyes, and rested a hand on her back. Gamora shuddered at the contact, and had to suppress the instinct to punch him and the paranoia to defend himself, but took a deep breath and shared a gentle silence with him. And when they talked about it again, two years after defeating Ego, when they had already advanced a lot in their relationship, the feeling was completely different. It was an almost pleasant longing, joyful memories, even if they ended that way. The emptiness and the pain were completely filled, for Peter's love, for their family, and the way he was stroking her hair while she was lying on top of him at that moment. Just the two of them alone in their bedroom.

She took another breath and pushed away the urge to cry with the determination to keep looking for a way out of the palace. Peter had to be alive somewhere, and probably looking for her. That was the hope she had been clinging to for survive each day within the cold walls of the sovereigns' prison.

The baby kicked her, as if guessing that she was losing her mind as many times , and demanding a little attention. Gamora chuckled and stroked her belly.

“Hi... I'm still here. I was just thinking about dad. And how we're going to go about looking for him. When you grow up.”

She stopped herself from saying _if_. Her baby would grow up! She would kill Ayesha and all the sovereigns on the planet if it were necessary to protect her child's life. Almost insane thoughts of an emergency plan have been forming in her head lately. She would have to entrust the child to someone if something happened to her. And before she could think of any alternative, it was always Adam that came to mind. But how could she trust him? He was part of it, despite everything he had done for her since they met. How would she convince him, how would she be sure he would take her baby safely off the planet, and to the right people? What if Ayesha had told the truth? If her family were no longer in this universe? What if Xandar no longer exists? Gamora had one last alternative. Very uncertain, but the only remaining one. One of the few concrete memories she had of the soul stone.

The baby kicked her again, making her look at him again, and realizing that she had been distracted again.

“Sorry darling. Mom is worried about some things. But we’ll find a way, somehow.”

She kept all the things she was looking at in the same box that Adam had brought, leaving it on the table, and going back to bed. She rested her back on the pillow, and stretched her legs, running her hands over the soft fabric of the nightgown over her belly.

“What do you want to do now? - Asked the baby - Play? Or hear a story?”

She ended up spending the next few minutes playing with her child anyway, applying light pressure in some places, which the baby responded by pushing her hands with a little foot or hand. It was one of the few things that managed to make Gamora feel really happy in the past few months. As time passed, the child also became more agitated, making it difficult for Gamora to fall asleep at night. Then one night, before she realized what she was doing, she found herself singing softly each of the songs that Peter had shown her since they met, while caressing her belly and feeling the baby gradually calm down, until she too fell asleep.

“I think you will be like your father. And I will be happy if you inherit the same gift he had to get us out of complicated situations with music and conversation. It will be easier for you to at least get out of here.”

The same question always came to her mind when Gamora talked about Peter or thought about him. What if he knew? If only the two knew when they went to Knowhere that day? If they both knew she was pregnant when Thanos took her? What if Nebula knew? She probably would have found out quickly if she hadn't been tortured. She pushed away all questions about what might happen if Thanos knew. She was sure that no path would be good.

******

“That's good,” Nebula smiled as she looked at her datapad screen. “You're better than us.”

Tony became serious, making clear his sadness at not being able to help his friend.

“I'm sorry, Neb.”

“If you call me that again, I'll cross the galaxy to turn your armor into junkyard!”

“You don't have to. Morgan forced us to adopt a dog she found on the street, he himself tried to take care of it.”

“Daddy!”

Nebula heard Morgan call from somewhere in the house. Then she heard barks and laughter that clearly belonged to Morgan, Pepper, Peter, MJ and Happy, and managed to smile, genuinely happy that things were better on Earth.

“I'll be right there, my love!” Tony replied, looking quickly back and turning to the camera again. “We don't know where the green girl is. I'm so sorry. And if she practically ran away from here after the war, I don't think she would be back anytime soon. Anyway, I'll talk to others. You know... I've been on vacation for long months. And I'm still stuck with the medical certificate.”

“I'm glad you're doing well.”

Tony smiled.

“How's Quill? And the others?”

He probably knew the answer, but he can't help asking the question.

“We're fine. And we're not. He remains devastated. After she fled Earth, we found her nowhere. We've been scanning the entire known universe for months, and we haven't found her. The New Corps is offering a reward for information about her whereabouts, but no one has spoken out to date. We have already visited all possible places where she could be, and she wasn't in any of them, as I already told you. He and Groot still cry some nights. He's been having strange nightmares about her. We're doing our best to get through this together. And I know that maybe the moment will come when we have to accept the possibility that the worst has happened. This will break him. I want to exhaust all chances first.”

“I understand.”

“Daddy!”

“You better go. Before one of your precious armor turns into a teether.”

Tony laughed.

“I’ll contact you if I know something relevant. It was nice talking to you.”

“Send our regards to Pepper and the children. And your new puppy.”

“They’ll be happy. Broadcast ours too.”

Nebula smiled before saying goodbye and hanging up.

******

_“Hey!”_

_Nebula woke to the sound of the voice, widening her eyes when she saw herself in the dark and didn't recognize the place. She was sure she had fallen asleep in her bedroom on Benatar._

_“Listen to me!”_

_She got up from the cold floor when she heard her sister's voice again, and finally noticed the environment around her. It was dark and gray. Several corridors protruded between several partitions, such as small bedrooms or living rooms, but all were empty._

_“What the hell is this place?”_

_For a moment her heart was filled with dread, almost believing that it was yet another nightmare projection created by Thanos, that she had never run away from him, that she had never joined the Guardians, that she had never spent five years alone with Rocket, that Gamora had never been..._

_“Sister!”_

_Nebula left the strange room, entering the corridor and looking in the direction of the voice._

_“Gamora! Where are you?!” She asked, already starting to walk._

_It didn't matter to her now what was real or not, if Peter was having strange dreams or weird warnings, if there was the slightest chance of talking to Gamora, even in a bizarre dream, she would take advantage._

_“There's never been much time here. Hurry up!”_

_“Keep talking!”_

_“You need to know! Need to warn!”_

_“Warn what?!”_

_She had been panicking since Gamora mentioned the time, and she was ready to run through every room willing to find her, when suddenly Gamora left one of the rooms in front of her, almost bumping into her. She was exactly as Nebula remembered seeing her on Earth the last time, except for the lack of her weapons, and the look in her eyes. It was different... It seemed..._

_“Is it really you?”_

_Not waiting for an answer, Nebula hugged her, squeezing her sister even more when Gamora returned the hug. And now she was sure! It was her! Their Gamora! Not that they considered the one from 2014 less important, they were the same person after all._

_“Where are you?!” Asked when moved away to look at her._

_“You need to tell him! You have to know.”_

_“Know what?”_

_Suddenly Nebula felt her head heaving. It wasn't pain, or a bad feeling, it was just a weight, like tiredness, and she recognized that feeling well, the one that felt close to the awakening of a lucid dream. She never had many like this, but she remembered well how they worked._

_“About Vormir.”_

_Nebula felt a twinge in her heart at the mention of Vormir, but if for some motive, reason or circumstance in the universe she was having a strange dream about Gamora after Peter had so many others, she would hear what she had to say about it._

_“It was terrible...” Gamora whispered, and looked down briefly, now letting some tears stream down her face. “But you have to tell him! There's little time left. If you're in Xandar...”_

_“He” could only be Peter._

_“We are. But what was terrible?! Which in addition to what we already know happened there. You have to tell me what...”_

Nebula woke up in a leap, eyes wide and breathing hard. She never had dreams like that! Not often, anyway. If she had any doubts about Peter's strange dreams, they now seemed incredibly real even to her.

“The 2014 Gamora... Did she cause some weird distortion in space time? And what did she want me to say to him? Damn it, Gamora! Why did you mess up so much?!”

She couldn't really blame any version of her sister in the dream. Lucid dreams tended to do everything to interrupt the receipt of important information when the conscious began to struggle to wake up, she had already realized this for years, and it wasn't always possible to force the opposite effect.

She got up and left the bedroom, passing one of the windows and seeing the stars of Xandar's night sky and the other ships parked in the hangar of the New Corps. She headed straight for the ship's control room, turning on the panel and displaying the same tracker where Peter had tried so often to locate Gamora. It would take centuries to track all the areas he had already searched for, so she limited her search to Xandar and the surrounding area. It would take at least twenty minutes to complete. She lost herself again in thoughts and doubts when she looked at her sister's photo, suddenly remembering the baby that Peter reported seeing in so many dreams.

“It can't be... She wasn't pregnant in this one. It didn't seem at least.”

She remembered the look her sister cast down when she started to cry, for the moment it had just seemed like it was an unconscious gesture to hide her tears, one of the sequels of Thanos.

“I must be getting paranoid.”

“Did he leave another survey open?”

Nebula hid her shudder with the sudden scare of hearing Rocket's hoarse voice in the darkness. Was seh so dispersed that she hadn't heard him coming? She took a deep breath and turned to face the raccoon.

“No. I started a new one.”

“Why? Did he wake up desperate with crazy dreams again? I didn’t hear anything. I just lost sleep.”

Rocket came over and jumped onto the chair seat in front of the panel, remaining silent as he watched Gamora's image. Even though he said nothing, and almost always tried to be indifferent, Nebula could clearly see the longing and sadness in his red eyes.

“I was the one who had a strange dream this time.”

“With her?!”

“No… With Kevin Bacon,” he replied sarcastically.

Rocket didn’t bother to answer, and sat in the chair in silence.

“Groot heard him crying one of these days, and he made me promise that I would talk to him about it.”

Nebula looked at him questioningly.

“He said he doesn't know if these dreams are just a result of what they were talking about, or if something could have happened. And if happened was an accident. He said that...”

“He wanted to marry her.”

The raccoon's silence agreed with the statement.

“I hate to say sweet things like Peter, but... I really wish my sister had lived long enough for that. He's the best thing that happened to her.”

Rocket just shook his head in affirmation.

“So... What did you dream about? If you want to tell.”

“It was as strange as what he has been telling us. We were in a strange place that I have never seen before. I don't know if it looked more like a maze, a prison, or a very macabre floor of offices. I heard Gamora calling to me and I had to look for some time to find her. She was in a hurry. She told me that she never had much time in that weird place, and that I needed to say something to _him_.”

Rocket narrowed his eyes as he came to understand what the Nebula meant.

“Pet?”

“I believe it can only be him. She also said that we needed to know.”

“Than?”

“I don’t know. Something terrible about Vormir.“

“But... What do we know happened there... Isn't it already terrible?”

“I told her that. She started to cry when she talked about Vormir. She said there is little time left. She said that if we were in Xandar...”

“What? Little time for what?”

“I don’t know. I woke up before she made that point clear to me. All I know is that she desperately wanted me to warn all of us about something, especially him. _What_ is the problem.”

“ _Our_ Gamora.”

Nebula nodded.

“Maybe Gamora 2014 caused some weird time distortion. That dream may not even have been about our dimension.”

“But why would she talk about things that happened here if it wasn't?”

Nebula just shook her head negatively, having no idea about a possible explanation.

The two spent the next few minutes in silence, watching the search continue on the tracker. The projector already showed that Gamora was nowhere in Xandar, and was now searching for nearby planets and areas.

“Do you think...” Rocket started in that serious tone he rarely used. “That he can be right? That this could have happened? We know that it’s entirely possible.”

“I don't know... He was always more careful with my sister than with anything in the entire universe. But failures do happen.”

“He told me that it could have happened by accident, although neither of them noticed anything to indicate that.”

“Perhaps. Although I prefer to ignore this possibility. The scenario of Gamora's death already seems terrible enough without an innocent child involved.”

“Are you going to tell him? Don't you think he'll get even more paranoid?”

Nebula took some time to respond.

“Peter having that kind of dream is one thing. It can always be just his subconscious unloading the weight and pain he feels. But I never went to have dreams like that, no matter how bad it happened... The New Corps is also looking for her. We're late today, but maybe tomorrow is time to talk to Dey and find out if he has news. And if she asked me to tell you anything and was so emphatic about telling Peter, it might mean something to him that I'm not able to deduce.”

“I was never one to believe in dreams, but... Didn't she tell you where she was?”

“I asked. But I woke up before I got that answer too.”

Nebula didn't say. But if that dream meant anything in real life, time worried her. If Gamora was in danger, and something bad would happen to her soon, no matter how blindly she believed in premonitory dreams, she would look for clues.


	14. Fear

“What?!”

Peter looked somewhere on the floor, still in shock at everything Nebula had told him.

“When I woke up I did a new scan. It would take too long to look for her in all the places you've tracked before, so I reduced the area to Xandar and the surrounding area. But the result was the same as always.”

“Are you sure you don't remember what she wanted to tell us.”

“I have. It was too clear for me to forget.”

“Is there anything important to happen in the next few days or weeks that we are forgetting?”

“No. I've thought of everything.”

“Did you see anyone else there with her? Did you recognize the place?”

“No. It was just us. And I've never seen that place before. It looked like a maze, a very strange prison perhaps, or some abandoned building. There were no visible windows or exit doors to make the place familiar.”

“Was she okay ?! Wounded or sick?”

“Apparently she was in perfect condition. She cried when she spoke of Vormir, but she wasn't hurt. She just said it was terrible. But we already know that. I don't usually have dreams like that. And don't even let me influence myself because close people did.”

“Do you think... Does that mean anything?”

“Perhaps. Look... I told you this because I felt I should and because she asked for a lot. It was much more real than many things I dreamed of my whole life. If my sister wanted me so much to tell everyone, and especially you, I couldn't do the opposite, even though I have no idea what she meant. But I'm not telling you to be even more paranoid, sad and bewildered. It just happened, and I don't know why. Let's talk to Dey, maybe he has news. And if he doesn't, we'll just continue. Move on and keep hoping that luck is in our favor. And if it's not...”

“I know,” Peter replied sadly, but clearly aware and receptive to the sentence that he did not let her complete.

“We will talk to Dey later. Will I see you in the kitchen in a little while?”

“Yes. I'll get ready.”

Nebula nodded, and gave him a slight smile before leaving and closing the door.

This wasn't how he expected his morning to begin before Nebula entered his bedroom a few minutes ago. And as much as he knew she was right, his heart racing again was longing for Gamora to be here with him. He looked at the photo on the picture frame on the nightstand beside the bed. Many times he thought of getting it out of there, because it hurt so much to have to look at her every night and morning that he went to sleep and woke up without Gamora, but he couldn't. It almost seemed like a betrayal to her, an acceptance of what had happened.

Peter had taken that photo on a day when everyone was resting after a mission. The two were alone in the bedroom, lying in each other's arms. Peter had said something to her that made her laugh, and the sound of her voice was the most melodious thing he had ever heard. Her smile was contagious and beautiful as an angel's, the sparkle in her eyes was more beautiful than that of all the stars in the galaxy, and the only thing he could do was to lift the datapad and take a picture. The two were smiling at each other, incredibly happy and oblivious to everything that would happen in the future.

The frame was a light beige, with pink floral arabesques. The two were in a store in Xandar looking for a frame exactly to place this photo, and Gamora had really liked this one. Peter immediately bought it, and the two put the photo there as soon as they returned to the ship. The Starlord couldn't help but extend his fingers and slide them across her face in the photo, in an attempt to make up for some of the lack of power to do that on her smooth skin.

“Where are you, darling?”

******

Gamora had begun to be secretly anxious for the days that Adam took her to the central garden, and frustrated on the other hand. Although he took her on different paths at times, she hadn't found anything more useful that could help her escape. She didn't think to do that right away, of course. Running away pregnant would be suicide for her and the baby. But the fear of what would happen to both of them as soon as the child was born is that it eroded her inside. And after several rounds of hours and hours of thinking, the only alternative her head showed her was always the same, _Adam_. He was the closest she had at the moment to someone minimally reliable. Not only did he look nice and kind, Gamora could see that sincerity in his golden eyes. But how much Ayesha's authority and thirst for revenge could be above that is what she feared. And when she spent another huge amount of time thinking about it, she just became more convinced that she could do nothing but trust him to betray the priestess and take the baby to possible safe places, for people he or she would be fine with.

The baby moved, looking more agitated than usual, and bringing her back to reality. Gamora looked at her belly and stroked it again.

“Sorry... I didn't mean to worry you. I should be worried about things much lighter now, but... That's what we have, dear. I don't know how, but you'll be fine. Here, or wherever life takes you. If the worst happens, I'll find a way to keep you safe, far from here.”

The movements continued, as if the child protested.

“I know. But we can't do anything about it right now. It would be very dangerous. You’re only two weeks away from arriving if I haven’t lost count. Maybe even less. And I'm afraid. All I wanted was to have your father here.”

Her calculations must be right. She knew this because in the last few days a mild and incredibly pleasant aroma had appeared in the room, and she knew it was due to the hormones released as the baby arrived. The Guardians had already taken care of children on some missions, and newborn babies always smelled like that. She had noticed that Adam and Alia had noticed this days before, but they were too polite to bother her asking. And probably Alia was aware of what it was and should have explained it to Adam. Gamora now knew that she had already seen babies on some of her trips.

The zehoberi was afraid, and she wouldn't be mistaken by denying that. She was afraid of the after, she was afraid of the unknown, she was afraid of her cyber changes making the delivery very intense and there was any risk of hurting the baby, no matter how well she knew each one and there was no specific one to prevent or hinder a pregnancy, that was far from a concern for Thanos at the time. Although it could be convenient due to the situation that opened up an opportunity for cybernetics to be placed in her body.

She was also afraid that the months of imprisonment and sadness would affect her child's health, no matter how much she had been moved to a more comfortable cell, and had been well fed. She was afraid something was going to go wrong. If it did, there would be no one capable of operating her safely as far as she knew. The sovereigns had no knowledge of how babies were conceived, nor how they were born. And if she had to do it herself, even if the baby resisted, there was no guarantee that she wouldn't have a different destination. And the lack of affection, love and security from Peter and her family made each of these fears seem much greater.

“All I wanted was for him to be here. I'm sure everything would be okay if he was.”

Gamora narrowed her eyes to contain her tears when she heard Adam's familiar knock on the door. She had been so distracted that she hadn’t heard him approaching.

“Gamora?”

She dried her eyes and took a deep breath to regain her composure. She was already wearing a long-sleeved navy blue dress that went down to her knees like the first time she went to the garden, and again the black leggings and her boots. Today Alia had brought her dinner earlier, and warned that soon Adam would come to accompany her to the garden.

“Are you ready?”

“Yes. I am.”

She opened the door and greeted her with a small smile, which soon disappeared when he saw the clear sadness on her face. He was silent, watching her without saying anything for a few moments. Gamora also said nothing. They both knew there was nothing he could say. Then she simply got up and followed him through the door. The two walked in silence to the garden, where she sat on one of the golden benches, unwilling to explore the place that night.

“It’s all right? With you and the baby?”

“Yes.”

“I was told to tell you that everything is ready. For the baby,” he completed when she looked at him questioningly. “When you think it's necessary, we'll take you to another place, a bigger bedroom, with everything you said you'll need, including a crib, the bathtub, and everything else you said. If you agree, today I can already take what's in your cell to there.”

“You can. I didn't think you had cells that could handle that.”

“We don't have. It's a bedroom in one of the innermost wings of the palace. You still won't...”

“I know,” she said, saving him from saying that she would still be stuck anyway.

“But it’ll be more comfortable, and adapted.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Do you know when it’s going to happen?”

“In two weeks or a little earlier.”

“Will you need help? Our doctors don't understand this, but we’ll make them available.”

“With all due respect, but they won't be of use if they don't even know what to do. It's not so simple, nor is it something I want to explain. And I don’t even know if it’s something they could bear to see.”

“Speaking like that... It looks like it's something that can kill you.”

“Sometimes it happens.”

Gamora almost felt sorry for Adam's terrified look.

“This doesn’t seem right. How can one life be created at the cost of another?”

“There is no certainty of what will happen. I'll probably be fine. I was born for this. Rarely does something like this go wrong. But if it happens...”

“What?”

“I'll tell you later. And if you tell anyone about this conversation, I’ll take your head off myself. I want to remind you that my child's safety, which you guaranteed when I got here, is more important than anything. So don't doubt that.”

Adam didn't respond, just nodded a few seconds later.

******

“Madam...” Adam started while walking with Ayesha and Alia through the huge room where they held the embryonic capsules. “The baby will arrive in two weeks or less.”

“This is very interesting. It will be an experience that will certainly add useful knowledge to the science of our people.”

Adam thought about quoting what Gamora had said about the risk of the procedure, but remembering the threat posed by the zehoberi, and what mattered most, her and the child's well-being, he decided to postpone the information as much as possible.

“We have no idea how this is going to happen. If it's inside her body, maybe some damage is needed for the birth.”

“Do you think it could weaken her?”

“I don't know... But that's what I want to talk to you about. After the baby is here ... What will happen to her?”

Ayesha was silent, seeming to think. Alia looked from Adam to the superior, apprehensive at the answer.

“I am very interested in sentencing and executing all the Guardians of the Galaxy together. We will keep her in confinement until they are found.”

“And the baby?” Alia asked.

“She can stay with it until the sentence.”

“And then?”

“As we discussed before. If the child has a human appearance, it will be easy to find a family, where no one will ever know where it came from. If it looks like the mother it will be more difficult, but we will find a solution eventually.”

“And that girl?” Alia asked. “Aster.”

“We won't give in to the whims of a child thirsting for revenge. She can even watch the execution if she wishes. But that task is still ours. Did the prisoner tell you if she will need anything else?” She asked Adam.

“No. She said that is just what she had already told us.”

“And how should this happen?”

“I still don’t know. But I think the baby can arrive anytime from now.”

“The bedroom is in order, I will let everyone know about the need for a possible emergency transfer. But under no circumstances should you transfer her first. Only when necessary. No seconds before that.”

“Yes, madam.”

“And I want you to attest to the real need for surgical instruments. Who can guarantee that she will not use them against one of us before, during, or after?”

“She looks reliable.”

“What makes you so sure about this when it comes to a female prisoner who scared everyone in the prison wing one by one?”

“Technically the enemy is the strange animal that was with them. She did nothing for what you yourself told me.”

“We have no way of knowing that they did not all agree on that. Therefore, any of them is within the prosecution requirements.”

Ayesha was silent for a few moments watching the progress of some capsules, and Adam decided to ignore her last statement. Getting what Gamora needed was more important now.

“As I said... I believe that we can trust her. She has cyber modifications, and she reported that she is able to fix them herself most of the time when there is damage. Perhaps the changes are on the way to birth. She may need to remove or modify any of them, or repair them if the baby does any harm.”

Adam paused, pleased to see that Ayesha was paying attention.

“And well... None of us has any idea how this is going to happen. I think maybe... She needs to make an incision in herself to remove the baby.”

“A simple incision? From what you and Alia have reported to me, a much more serious intervention is possible. But I don't see how she would survive this without anesthesia and medical monitoring.”

“Perhaps she has immunity to certain intensities of pain,” Alia said.

“Does she have it?” Ayesha questioned.

“We don't know,” Adam told her. “She doesn't tell us anything about the procedure, no matter how much any of us asks. She just said that her body is programmed for this and knows what to do. But she will still need the instruments later. If they are functioning as a single body, it makes sense that she needs something to separate herself from the baby at some point.”

“Very interesting...” Ayesha said, with a distant and thoughtful look again. “But it would make it immensely easier if she clarified what kind of help she might need.”

“What if it really is something that our doctors are not prepared for?” Alia asked.

“I think we can only wait. She will have to clarify something when the time comes,” Ayesha said simply.


	15. Coming

Dey had been watching them for almost a minute gaping as they sat around the table where he displayed holograms tracking various locations in space.

“Hey!” Rocket called, losing patience. “Are you going to spend all day like this?”

He fell silent with a Nebula look.

“I...” Dey started. “Now that they finally told me these... Dreams... With details, including the ones you had already told me about, they really look like strange coincidences. But we are security agents. We cannot make decisions and attitudes based on dreams. Our equipment has already shown that everything is fine with you, despite the difficult emotional conditions that you're going through. If there was a certainty that there was a child when she was taken from you... Or after she returned, or after your theories about the functioning of the powers of Thanos and the jewels were proven, maybe I could do something more concrete with the extra information - he said to Nebula - But for now, I can only guarantee to continue the work that we're already doing. We won't give up looking for Gamora, even if years pass - he said to Peter - And believe me, Nova Prime and me, more than anyone here, we don't want to take this long to find her, we are doing everything to find her fast.”

“Couldn't your equipment track mental waves?” Drax asked.

“How? No, that would be telepathy. We know that telepaths exist, but we don't have one, and our equipment can't do that. And even if we had a telepath, he would have to have a very well-developed gift to search the entire universe.”

“This is very strange. She has a chip like all of us. We should have found her by now,” Peter said.

“I can't lie to you. We all know that something can happen that damages the chip. Do you understand where I want to go?” Dey asked Peter.

The Earthman just nodded sadly.

“If the worst happens... Would it still be possible to track her?” Mantis asked cautiously, seeing everyone's shocked look when they realized that even she was considering the worst.

“Yes,” Dey told her. “Unless... As I already said, the chip is damaged in the process. But we don't want to, and we're not going to consider it as far as possible. We've only been looking for months. Some people take years to be found.”

“I am Groot?”

“We received two alerts, but we verified that it were false alarms, so we didn't even notify you.”

“Are you sure?” Peter asked.

“Absolute.”

“Many people came to love my sister after Ronan's defeat almost ten years ago. But there're still those who hate her out there, even in a very small number. That is why this simple dream seemed to me to be possible. If she's stuck somewhere, it'll be more difficult to locate her. Thanos used tracking blockers on some of his ships. That was how he approached the victims without their realizing it until that giant ship was already on top of them. Other people can do the same.”

Dey thought for a moment.

“When we warn that we want information about her whereabouts, we didn't specify anything precisely for this to apply to any type of place or situation, including suspicious ships. We cannot go out and invade them all, some mobsters have a fleet and equipment of such advanced technology, and are so articulate that even if we used all of our agents and equipment, we could still suffer losses. So we're focusing on looking for potential contacts from people like that outside the ships. But we still haven't achieved anything yet.”

Dey looked at each of them as they absorbed his words, and it seemed so wrong. The team just didn't look like the _Guardians of the Galaxy_ without Gamora there.

“I'm sorry, guys. And I have to say, you don't even look like you without her around.”

Everyone looked at him at those words, even Drax, who was already distracted by thinking of something random, like so many times on previous visits.

“And this is another reason that will keep us looking in every corner of the galaxy. But it's an answer that none of us knows when or how it'll come. So I can only ask you to continue to be patient. And wish you strength to face it.”

Peter nodded.

“Thank you, Dey.”

The friend responded with a small smile as he turned off the projections on the table.

******

Gamora had felt strange since she woke up that morning. Today Adam would take her again to the garden, a week after she threatened him, and for the first time she was thinking of refusing. The pains in her back had intensified, her legs felt heavy and sore, and an uneasiness ran through her. She was fortunate that her modifications and the most resistant natural attributes of her species had postponed such symptoms so much. Perhaps her baby would arrive earlier, after all, following the time of humans, and perhaps simply zehoberi babies would also be born at nine months, she would never know.

The sovereign would arrive in a few minutes to bring her food and wait for her to walk together, and Gamora lay down on her bed, thinking of simply ignoring him when he arrived, even though he didn't need her permission to enter, even though he always asked.

She closed her eyes trying to relax. Perhaps if she slept, some of the stress of the past few months and the discomfort would go away. For a few minutes she managed to rest, but opened her eyes when she felt the baby kicking her hard, causing unusual discomfort, and a twinge hit her stomach. She felt herself freezing with fear inside, wanting to deny the possibilities. But what could her do if her deductions were right?

The minutes passed, and other pangs of pain bothered her, becoming stronger and more painful. An uncomfortable contraction made her feel dizzy, leaving her body tense for the duration. It wasn't pain yet, but she knew she would be there soon.

“So this is how it will be...” she murmured to no one in particular. “You decided to arrive just now, dear? Don't you want to go for a walk today?”

As if the baby answered her, another contraction hit her, and finally Gamora conformed herself, placing her hands on her stomach and staring at the ceiling as she tried to mentally prepare herself for what she would have to face in the next few hours.

“I'll find a way. I'll take care of you. Come easy, my love,” she spoke softly as she caressed the places where she felt the baby move, unable to decide whether she was trying to reassure her child or herself more.

She heard Adam's footsteps approaching in the hall, and prepared to send him away, even though she hadn't thought about how.

“Gamora?”

“Not today.”

“Are you ok?”

The warrior heard the door being quickly unlocked when she couldn't contain a groan of pain at the new contraction, stronger than the previous one. In a second Adam was kneeling beside her.

“What is wrong?”

“The baby,” she whispered, feeling that if she spoke louder, her pain would increase with it.

“Is it hurting you again?”

“No. It’s just time for him to come.”

The sincere concern in Adam's golden eyes reminded her of Mantis, it was the same sweet and sad way she looked at any of the Guardians when she knew they were feeling bad about something.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes”

“I'll take you to the bedroom I told you about,” he said getting up and looking around. “I'll take you. Alia will take the rest of your things that are here.”

“Wait.”

Adam looked at her with attention.

“Pay close attention. If something happens to me... If when it ends something goes wrong for me, I need you to get my baby off this planet.”

Adam opened his mouth to speak, but she didn't let him continue.

“I don't know how far I can count on you, or whether you would be willing to betray your kingdom, but I believe that what is right is more important to you than just revenge. If I don't survive - she said, deciding finally to be clear about the possible consequences - You need to take my baby to Xandar. Give him to the New Corps. He'll be fine with them. And if Xandar doesn't really exist anymore, you should take him to a somewhat distant planet called Earth, located in a galaxy next to Andromeda and much smaller, called the Milky Way. Go to North America, United States of America, to the state of New York. Give my baby to the Avengers, personally, to any of them. Look for Pepper Potts Stark if possible. My child will also be safe there. Don't forget to tell them to do this for Nat.”

“Who's Nat?”

“This isn't important now. And if you tell anyone about it, I'll come back from the dead to end you.”

“Gamora... You'll be fine.”

“I don't know. I've never done that before. I lost my mother so early that I don't even know how many months a baby of my kind should be born. I'm not sure what's going to happen. Now... If you can help me... There are things I'll need later for the baby.”

“Of course.”

Adam carefully picked her up and lifted her. Gamora closed her eyes, trying to relax and save energy while not feeling any new contractions. Her watter hadn't yet broken, so it could really last for many hours.

Adam took her out of the cell and headed down the hall to the left. Despite the discomfort, Gamora didn't miss the opportunity to pay attention to the path they were taking. Leaving the four cell blocks behind, they entered a corridor with random rooms. There was no clear identification on the doors, just lighter gray plaques with writings that Gamora was unable to read. Some doors were open, and she noticed that the interior was similar to an office. Although the metallic gray remains outside, the colors varied inside, between gold and dark tones of blue, green or red, both on the furniture and on the walls. She didn't notice the presence of employees, however, and wondered if the open doors mean they could be on shift change hours, or if simply the employees had been sent elsewhere for some reason.

Adam looked at her briefly when another contraction hit her and her muscles contracted. Gamora clenched her teeth at the discomfort that was beginning to turn into pain, and felt Adam quicken his steps.

“We're arriving,” he told her.

All Gamora wanted was for her water not to break before they reached their destination. She wasn't in the mood to explain anything about her biology or the birth process to any of the sovereigns, nor did she want to.

Fortunately they reached a door. The metal was apparently quite heavy, but Adam grabbed the handle and pushed it with extreme ease, going into the next room, which stood out completely from inside the prison. Two guards greeted them with a nod and the usual cold and serious expression of most sovereigns, probably already aware of what was going on. As Adam crossed the room with her, she noticed that the door was golden on the outside, as were the walls and the ceiling. The floor was adorned with dark blue carpet from corner to corner, with golden arabesque designs. Other doors, probably locked, could be seen around the room, perhaps providing access to other areas of the prison or the palace. But Gamora can't see anything anymore, they were going through another door on the opposite wall, and they entered another hall.

This corridor was much wider and contained several doors, in addition to connecting two other identical corridors, which should to lead to other places in the palace. The walls were all gold too, with navy blue trim at the bottom. Gamora would already be irritated by the excess of gold in that place if she didn't have any bigger issues to worry about now. Adam stopped in front of a door, guarded by two men, and exchanged a nod with them. One of the guards opened the door, allowing Adam to pass through with her, and closed it again later.

Gamora found herself in a bedroom much larger than the two previous cells, and to her relief the walls were a pleasant shade of light brown rather than more dark gray or gold. A larger and noticeably more comfortable bed was in one corner, and another piece attached to the side formed a perfect cradle for a newborn. A smaller table with a tray with some surgical instruments was on the opposite side. Another table was in the center of the bedroom, with a transparent baby bath. Thermal containers, also transparent, were on the side, filled with heated water, in addition to sterile towels. Two chairs were by the table. There was also a four-drawer dresser beside the bed, with a small colored plastic chest on top, clearly made to hold children's belongings. Next to it were folded waterproof bags. A door in the wall next to the bed appeared to belong to the bathroom.

“I still need to organize some things. Let me sit on one of the chairs.”

Adam obeyed.

“Tell me how I can help.”

“No. Please go away. It won’t happen now. I can still get some rest. Just... don't let anyone bother me.”

“Are you sure?”

“I have. Thank you for bringing me here. Now, leave me.”

“I'll be outside if you need to.”

He hesitated for a few more seconds before leaving. Gamora waited to make sure that no one would come to bother her, and took advantage of the minutes without further contractions to line the bed with some of the waterproof bags and put herself on more comfortable clothes, exchanging the black dress for a salmon nightgown she found in one of the dresser drawers. It wasn't a color she used to use, but she had liked it when Alia brought it. She settled under the covers, not intending to sleep, but relaxing as much as possible for when the time came.

The silence outside made her thoughts drift to Peter again, and again an irritating voice deep in her thoughts told her what she had been doing everything to deny. _Perhaps Ayesha is right. He's gone._

“No...” she whispered to herself.

_He would cross the universe to find you wherever you were. He would track you down, he would never give up on you if he were alive._

“No... It can't be like that. He just doesn't know where I am. I would be surprised if even the New Corps located me in a sovereign prison. It has to be a lie.” 

_And what are you going to do if it’s not?_

“Before I decide that I need to have my baby and survive.”

_And after that happens will you have the answer?_

“I don't know what to do,” she said softly, realizing that she was losing another battle to tears, and drying the first one that ran down her face. “Not now. I need to be okay for him or her.”

Another wave of pain went through her body, and Gamora flinched, managing to finally ignore her thoughts.


	16. Somewhere in the stars

“Since when does she have symptoms?” Gamora heard Alia ask outside the bedroom.

“Since last night,” Adam replied.

“And with what authorization did you move her to a bedroom without locks?”

“The bedroom where we put everything she said the baby needed was never locked. And although we have never witnessed childbirth, if the two are physically connected, the emotional of the mother must be very influential, making her more tense can hurt both of them. And you were very clear about the conditions of her staying here from the beginning.”

“I suppose you already know how to help her then,” Ayesha spoke again.

“I'm not sure, and I don't think my presence would make her comfortable.”

“Prisoners never had privileges here, whoever they were. This is a very rare exception. I hope you are sure that we will not really be surprised by an escape or an attack.”

“She's not just any prisoner, that's why she's here,” Adam said.

“We can _request_ someone on the nearest planet. Someone who knows what to do - one of the guards suggested - Then take the necessary precautions to keep silent.”

Gamora was attentive to what she heard, fully understanding that _soliciting_ meant _kidnapping_ , and that if anyone had to keep the forced visit to the sovereigns secret, it would probably be forever, and in no good ways.

“Embryonic capsules were decidedly the best thing we've ever created. I do not understand how a child who is not even born can raise so many problematic questions.”

“My child is not a problem,” Gamora spoke loudly, knowing that she had been heard through the door ajar by the silence that followed. “I don't want your privileges if it's going to be lacking for you. But I don't give up that my child is born in safe conditions.”

The sound of Ayesha's heels echoed when the queen entered the bedroom, followed by Adam and the younger sovereign. The woman stopped beside Gamora, lying against the bed cushions.

“We brought you here. And we arrested you. Your child will be born in the best way that we can offer. As long as you tell us how it will happen, then we will know how to help.”

“When you said that your descendants don't reach this world in the conventional way... I had a vague hope that, despite not knowing the process, at least you knew how it happens afterwards. My child won't come at the cost of the freedom or the life of another innocent person. And the only person in the entire universe that I wanted now isn't here. Just leave me, I'll do it alone.”

“I hope you are sure of what you say. We will not tolerate regrets thrown on our backs after we offer help.”

“I know. I'm aware of the possible consequences. But I have endured incredibly more difficult things alone. Some hours aren't going to bring me down.”

“Hours?!” Alia asked in amazement. “Our capsules take much less time when the time has come.”

“I’m a conventional living being.”

Gamora thought of talking about how much the damn capsules didn't translate any meaning of life, so the sovereigns would never have any idea how much a life is worth, but her aching body, everything that had happened in the last few months, and the thousand feelings that clashed within, made her choose silence. Gamora looked at Ayesha with a depth that could pierce her soul, if she even had one.

“I'm just going to make it very clear that you're not going to like anything to see what will happen. If you don't know about it, just go out,” she said, looking away to the younger girl. “I don't guarantee you'll still sleep peacefully if you stay here.”

The two women opened their eyes wide with fear and amazement. Gamora would have laughed at their expressions had the situation not been so complicated.

“W-will... Will you survive?” The youngest asked, and Gamora wondered if she had heard of mothers who lost their lives giving birth.

“I would never leave my child alone,” she spoke slowly and in an almost menacing tone.

Ayesha probably didn't threaten her back because she was already convinced of how unstable the zehoberi's mood had been in the past few months.

“So be it,” the queen said seriously. “Be sure that everything you will need is in this bedroom.”

Gamora knew it was, but she looked around nonetheless, checking the small cradle attached to the bed, the tray with medical utensils on the opposite table, heated water in thermal containers, a baby bath on the larger table, sterile towels, a chest with random items for the newborn, her clothes and the baby's were in the dresser drawers as she had already checked, and waterproof bags for material disposal.

“It's all here.”

“There will be someone outside if you experience an emergency that is impossible to resolve on your own.”

Gamora looked at her with disguised anger, knowing it was just to prevent breakouts, and wondering if the queen was interested in just collecting information about the baby's birth.

“Good luck,” the golden woman spoke before leaving with the youngest, who looked at Gamora still apprehensive before following her leader.

Adam crouched down beside her. He was apparently more reliable than anyone else on the planet, or just the most sensible, maybe the next few hours would answer that.

“Are you sure?” He asked.

“I could say a lot of things now, but I just want you to leave because that is the first certainty I've had since you brought me back.”

The golden eyes didn't look at her with anger or disappointment, as Gamora so often expected it to happen, there seemed to be understanding and compassion in them.

“If someone enters that bedroom, I can't promise that that person will leave it,” she added.

“I brought you back, I’ll guard you and the child with my life. I'll be outside.”

The zehoberi looked for signs of a lie in it, and didn't know if finding none made her even more suspicious or a little less uncomfortable. She had entrusted her child's life to him if something happened to her, for sheer lack of choice. And all she wished was that she hadn't made the biggest and last mistake of her life.

Adam stood up and exchanged one last look with her before leaving. Gamora stared at the door when it closed, hoping that at the very least they would keep their promise to leave her alone.

******

The next few hours made her a little impatient. Enduring repeated pain rituals, waiting, controlling her breathing and checking her condition while being completely alone was tedious and exhausting. Her water finally broke while she was in the bathroom, which fortunately avoided getting the mattress wet. She got rid of her underwear when she felt the baby being pushed into the birth canal, another privilege of her modifications, after a particularly painful contraction. She took a deep breath and tried to relax as best she could, knowing that she would soon need to push, and that it was better and easier to follow the rhythm of her body than to panic. At least she can have fun listening to the sovereigns' terrified comments and footsteps outside the bedroom with every scream or cry she couldn't contain.

She took a breath again until she was able to control herself again and leaned better on the pillows on her back. The pain was excruciating, and Gamora knew it wouldn't subside so quickly, she was probably at the most difficult and time-consuming part of the process. The pressure the pain put on her body was the only thing that was keeping her from screaming at times. She had always wondered if the immense resistance and strength of the Zehoberi would save her from painful labor, but it seemed that in this sector her species wasn't so different from the others.

At a certain point she reached out and noticed that she could already feel a good part of her baby's head, being calm when she knew he was in the right position and she wouldn't have to worry about the risk of the baby being born in the opposite position. The speed with which the birth was progressing worried her a little, it seemed faster than she expected. Perhaps it was just a sign that the baby wasn't big enough to make the task difficult and put them both at risk, even if it didn't mean it would be a small child. A girl maybe...? Gamora had never thought about that, she was just intuiting. Boys almost always tended to be bigger, perhaps that applied to childbirth as well. Or maybe terrestrial or zehoberis babies really were born smaller... She had no way of knowing. The process still hurt and was torturously slow, but Gamora figured it could take even longer.

She carefully slid her fingers through her child's soft, still damp hair, and it made her cry, this time not from the pain. She still couldn't see, but she wondered which of the two the baby would look most like, if it would make her remember him, if it would be a boy who would bring Peter into her thoughts every time she looked at him, if he would sing and dance like him, if he would that smile that made her fall apart every time she saw him, no matter how many times.

“All I wanted now was you,” she murmured to herself, allowing tears to fall.

She screamed again when she felt another violent contraction and pushed again. This time she didn't mind paying attention to the desperate sovereigns outside, she would laugh at them after all this was over. She stroked her child's head again when the wave of pain subsided, realizing that the baby had been pushed a little further out.

“We're going to get through this, dear. We will,” she spoke softly. “Your father would love you so much... He would be panicking now,” she laughed softly. “Or looking like an idiot with such joy that he would be feeling. He would hold you with all the love in the world and sing for you. He would call you the baby of the stars, and he would protect you more than anything in the universe - she said to herself without any concern to contain her crying.”

Part of her wanted to die now, or fall asleep and never wake up again in this world. The little being she was bringing into the universe now was the only thing that made her resist, the only reason that kept her alive in the hell she had woken up in and that made it look a little like paradise. The only remaining memory of everything she had that was important and valuable in her life after losing her parents. The last remnant of the person she loved most.

“I love you more than anything,” she whispered to her son.

******

“Are you sure we shouldn't search a doctor? Or a nurse?” Alia asked, her expression still anguished with fear at Gamora's occasional screams.

“She chose to be alone. She wasn't kidding when she said she would kill anyone who came in here - Adam said, refusing to leave the front door, he had even managed to dismiss the guards, who didn't dare to argue with someone so much bigger and stronger than them, especially being an Ayesha creation.”

“What are you doing?” Alia asked another sovereign who was researching something in a datapad together with a group of other women, all of them close to age, equally ignorant about the birth of other species, and terrified of the possibilities.

Gamora's screams and the movement in the corridors had attracted some curious sovereigns. Fortunately, most of them had work to do at the moment, and went on to do their job.

“Trying to find out what's going on,” one replied.

“And to know if she will survive this,” another said.

“Is that how a baby is? It's weird.”

“But it's so cute. Look at those almond little eyes.”

“It looks like a miniature of the youngest sovereign ever created.”

“They could do more of us like that.”

“Children are labor intensive and consume a lot of time and resources. It's not for nothing that we created few as children.”

Alia exchanged a look with Adam and the two returned to face the group that was talking. She knew very well how babies were generated, but she also had little idea of how they were born. Suddenly the two were startled when the others screamed together and muttered nonsense, which resulted in one of the five girls passing out and the other four panicking. One of them dropped the datapad, which stopped working when the projector hit the floor.

“No, it can't be...”

“She won’t survive...”

“How do women out there support this?!”

“How can such a tiny creature do so much damage?!”

They talked in desperation as they tried to wake up their friend.

“Let me help you,” Adam offered, taking the girl on his lap and taking her to an empty bedroom on a door in front of Gamora's bedroom. “Take care of her, I can't leave my job now. But I can call...”

“We... We will take care... Of everything...” one of them replied - Thank you.

Adam nodded and left the bedroom, returning to Gamora's door with the younger one, who looked even more terrified at what they had just seen. She picked up the broken datapad, unsuccessfully trying to turn it on and then stashing it in one of her clothing pockets.

“If she dies, are we going to raise the child?”

“I can't say. We can't decide anything without higher orders,” he replied, deciding not to say anything about Gamora's request.

“What do you think has terrified them so much?”

“From the way she is suffering, it's certainly not pleasant or easy. But if a baby is cute and adorable as they said, it might be satisfying after all.”

She looked in terror at the closed door of the bedroom where the others were, while unpleasant hypotheses were formulated in her mind.

******

Gamora listened to her ears when she heard the conversation outside and realized what was happening. Even though she was in the most painful phase of labor, she managed to concentrate enough to understand. She rolled her eyes when she heard one of the sovereigns pass out and the others panic. She didn't know if she could be happy or if she was indeed safe, but she was pleased to see that Adam was keeping his promise.

She contained a groan of pain and positioned herself higher on the bed, which she was careful to also cover with towels while she was still able to get up, to avoid having to sleep on a wet mattress afterwards, and to soften the place. She looked at the baby and held out her hands to support her child's head, feeling another wave of emotion when she could finally feel the whole little face of him or her.

She cried out again when a new contraction made her push a few more times, and carefully supported her child's little body as its shoulders slid out. Gamora closed her eyes trying not to focus on the pain as she continued to push, and soon she felt a wave of relief run through her body. The crying started softly and then grew louder. The warrior opened her eyes and allowed the tears to continue as she gently positioned the baby in her hands to pull him to her chest and kiss its head. Instantly the little one stopped crying, and Gamora's tears were the only ones heard as she wrapped the baby in one of the towels and dried its hair. She wasn't sure at the time, but the strands were light and had a slight pink tone like hers, and she suspected that the newborn's skin would not turn green when they both recovered from childbirth. If she was right, her baby was just like Peter, it gave a twinge of joy and pain in her heart. Continuing to dry the baby, she gradually realized that she had guessed her guess about the color of its hair, which shone a golden shade.

When she was able to calm down, she allowed herself to take a deep breath and sink into the pillows with her eyes closed for a few moments, just feeling the weight of her baby and allowing its little fingers to wrap around one of her thumbs. Minutes later she opened her eyes and looked at the surgical instruments beside the bed. She would have to hold the cord tightly and cut it. And she would still have to deal with the delivery of the placenta. She was still bleeding and feeling milder contractions, which was probably a good sign. If not, her body would certainly be in trouble for the expulsion, and that would put her in trouble, making it impossible to complete the process without medical help.

“I can do that,” she murmured to herself. “We have come this far,” she spoke softly with a smile, kissing the soft and blond hair again.

Her smile disappeared when him came to her mind again. He should be here, going crazy or driving her crazy for being so happy while she died of pain. She narrowed her eyes to contain her tears and looked at the baby again. The little one moved, though now in silence, opening and closing its mouth and stretching its tongue. Gamora managed to laugh, it was the cutest thing she had ever seen. She still had no idea about many things for this situation, so she decided to follow her instincts.

“I think we can wait a while. Do you want to suckle now?” She asked quietly not resisting kissing the little one's hair again.

Suddenly she remembered hearing at some point in a hospital in Xandar how important it was for the baby to breastfeed in the first thirty minutes of life. Gamora didn't even know which nurse or doctor or which patient it was said to, she had overheard while they were being treated for minor injuries after a difficult mission. She also didn't know why she had recorded the information, but she was happy to have this now.

“Let's find out how this is together,” she said, stroking the child's hair, who murmured softly in response.

She opened a few buttons on the nightgown and pulled the fabric away, better positioning her baby in her arms and helping him grab the place it was supposed to suck, which he did immediately. Gamora moaned softly when she felt a slight pain there and positioned the breast better in the baby's mouth. She didn't know how she managed to do this so naturally since in her life she had never been close to other mothers or been taught about it, but it wasn't important to think about it now.

Within a few seconds an indescribable emotion flooded her when she felt the milk reach the baby's mouth. She laughed and cried, allowing herself to close her eyes for the time being and bury her nose in the blond hair while her hands enveloped him with even more love and protection under the towel she had just used to dry him. It looked so small, and, still protected by the towel, Gamora still didn't know if she had a son or a daughter. But she didn't feel the need to hurry. They had done it, they were both well, and they deserved to get some rest and enjoy the moment.

“Meredith... Or Kevin... How am I going to call you?”

The baby continued to suck, oblivious to anything else. Lost in her lovely silent observation, it was only twenty minutes later that Gamora realized that all the pain she was experiencing had subsided almost completely. Only the contractions were still noticeable, and she could feel that the expulsion was going well. After she cut and properly took care of the cord, bathed and put the baby to sleep, she would have to take care of cleaning all the material used. But she chose not to think about it yet, and took advantage of the remaining ten minutes of her baby's first feeding.

“I love you more than anything,” she whispered to the little one when it finished breastfeeding, kissing its hair again, she would never tire of doing that. “Let's finish all this now, ok? Don't be alarmed, my love, we are safe,” she said, even though a voice in the back of her mind shouted the opposite.

A few more minutes later, very carefully she placed the baby in the crib attached to the bed, also covered with a towel, to finish cleaning its skin and taking care of the cord. A low murmur threatened to start a new cry, but fell silent when Gamora rested her hand on its head and spoke quietly.

“Shh... Mom is here. And everything will be fine. This is going to be quick, sweetie.”

The zehoberi watched as the child's skin began to take on a natural tone, and Gamora was finally mindful enough to pay attention to all the details of her little star baby.

******

“What is happening?” Ayesha asked in a frightened and authoritative tone at the same time when she found Adam and her assistant staring and silently at the door of Gamora's bedroom.

The younger one looked at her in alarm.

“She made a terrible scream, worse than any other else, and then everything was silent for a while.”

“And then?”

“We heard a child cry for a few seconds, and so far we haven't heard anything.”

“How long?”

“About one hour.”

“Open the door.”

“She threatened to kill anyone who entered before the child was here. And she wasn't kidding,” Adam warned.

“She seems to trust you more than us. Open the door yourself.”

Adam was quiet for a moment thinking about the order he had just received.

“I am your superior, and I order you to open this door.”

The golden man nodded and did as he was asked. The light was off and the bedroom was completely silent. But he could see the shape of Gamora lying on the bed.

“She seems to be sleeping.”

“Or worse,” Alia spoke with fear in her voice.

Ayesha stared at everyone with tension before entering, walking slowly to the bed of the zehoberi, who really seemed to be sleeping. Even in the low light, the priestess noticed that she had changed her clothes, and looked in horror at the bloody sheets, the blood on the surgical utensils and part of the clothes thrown beside the bed, as well as the slightly red tint of the water in the small bathtub on the table and the towels left there.

“She can't be alive,” Ayesha told Adam.

“She is. I can feel.”

Ayesha moved closer to the bed, watching the bundle Gamora held as if her life depended on it while sleeping against the pillows at the head of the bed. She looked closely and saw the little being, also asleep, inside the towels in which his mother had wrapped him. He was like the few sovereigns who had been raised as children at birth, but far less, and certainly still incapable of any intelligent action. The most curious thing is that at first glance he didn't look like his mother. His fair skin and blond hair made him look like an ordinary human. One of the little hands that was visible remained closed at the chin. It looked so small that the priestess wondered if it was even alive. She reached out to touch the baby's face. Her skin was one of the softest things she had ever felt.

“Get your hands off my daughter,” Gamora spoke softly, but in a threatening tone when she opened her eyes, startling Ayesha, who tried to hide the little jump she took back.

“It seems impressive that you are alive. One of the few data available on your species is its great physical strength and endurance. I see it is true,” the leader of the sovereigns commented in her usual serious and cold tone.

“The baby is good?” Adam asked gently.

Gamora didn’t respond immediately, analyzing every small intention of the three sovereigns in the bedroom.

“She's fine,” she said at last.

“Let us help you with all of this,” Adam offered.

“No. I'm going to fix everything myself. That's what normal mothers do. I appreciate it, but I want to take care of it myself.”

Gamora knew this wasn't true, normal women could never handle everything she was going through without help. But she wouldn't be so easy to give her blood samples to the sovereigns. And she didn't want them to touch even a hair on her baby. And Ayesha believing that ordinary mothers during pregnancy, childbirth and the baby's early life were dangerously aggressive, one more detail Gamora had worked on over the past few months, helped a lot. Even though Gamora was in fact dangerously aggressive when needed.

“You don't seem to be in a condition,” the youngest sovereign said.

Gamora gave her a look that made her pull back and cringe when she promptly got out of bed with her daughter as if nothing had happened, settling the baby in one arm, taking the tray of surgical utensils with her free hand and following to wash them in the bathroom, glancing at the other three to make sure they didn't take anything from the bedroom.

“We will leave you for longer then,” Ayesha said as she left, ordering the same from Adam and Alia.

The door closed and Gamora abandoned what she was doing, listening for ears until she was sure that the three would go far and no one would enter. She sat down on the bed again and groaned in pain at the sudden movements she had made to frighten the sovereigns. She took a deep breath and placed Meredith better in her lap, realizing that her daughter was awake. She let one hand grab her thumb and smiled. Despite having her eyes and a slight pink glow in her hair, she was just like Peter. Gamora forced herself to block out all the emotions that were threatening to spill over into her, she didn't want to cry again now or even think about how it really should have happened. Their daughter was alive, and healthy, to be grateful for that was all she had left.

Gamora left her on the bed and fetched clothes from the trunk, unrolling the small towel and reviewing the cord tie. She put a diaper and a brown jumpsuit on Meredith.

“At least this bedroom and the clothes are not gilded,” she said irritably.

She sat down again with her daughter on her lap, leaning on the pillow again, and deciding to rest a little more before starting to tidy up the bedroom. She stroked her daughter's light hair and couldn't take it anymore. Her tears immediately returned, and she struggled to remain silent so as not to disturb Meredith and attract sovereigns to the bedroom. She didn't know how she was going to do this without him, how she would raise their daughter without their family. Gamora could even see what state of happiness Peter would be in if he were here now, she could feel his arms around her and all the kisses he would give them both, and the way he would smile against her skin after kissing her cheek.

She wiped her eyes and took a deep breath when Meredith started showing signs of sleep, and Gamora rocked her gently as she muttered random melodies from the two tapes of the Awesome Mix and the zune. When the baby was asleep again half an hour later, Gamora left her in the crib and started to work in the bedroom slowly, cleaning all the medical utensils, the baby bathtub, her clothes, the towels and the bed sheets, and separating to discard everything that it wasn't worth trying to clean. She also checked Meredith's date, time, and probable birth weight, which she had noted on a pad of paper she found in the clothes chest. She worked for hours, stopping several times to rest or when she was in pain or when Meredith woke up and needed to nurse, until there wasn't even a blood stain left anywhere.

There was a metal clothesline in the large bathroom, it was small, but it would do, and she left everything drying there. She pulled the table to the bathroom door and made a bed for Meredith with the blankets, to make sure she saw her while she was in the shower. The hot water relieved some of her tension and washed the blood that was still on her skin, in addition to the small bleeds she was still suffering, but she didn't dare stay there for a long time, and when she left she took everything she had discarded and tied in one of the bags, leading to the small door that she discovered led directly to an incinerator, where the sovereigns put an end to everything that couldn't be reused. She finished her care by placing the table in front of the door. It wasn't enough to block it, but she would hear if anyone tried to enter. It hurt the risk of the noise to make Meredith cry, but it was necessary for the safety of both.

Finally, exhausted, she put Meredith back in the crib and lay down beside her daughter, resting a hand on her. Her body was heavy and it looked like it would be days before she managed to get up alone again. Falling asleep a few minutes later under the blanket, Gamora had dreams. So real that she would be confused when she woke up. All the Guardians were alive and happy as never before, everyone was with her and loved Meredith. Peter and Mantis helped her with the delivery, and Drax was speechless with so much emotion to hear that the baby was named Meredith Kamaria Quill. Groot was overjoyed to have a sister and Mantis fascinated by the baby's cuteness. Rocket was smiling and for the first time made no joke. Nebula held Meredith in her lap and Gamora felt her eyes water when she saw her smile. Peter was the happiest, laughing and caring father in the world. It seemed that he would never remove the smile from his face, that he would never stop kissing and hugging them both, that he would never want to take his daughter off his lap again. And when the three of them were alone, the warm and strong body of the Earthman embracing her from behind as they looked at their daughter together was a sensation Gamora never wanted to lose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Image credits for the artist "Ju Reborn".


	17. Dangerous decision

Gamora opened her eyes immediately, moving from semi-asleep to fully alert when she heard a noise, and realized that someone was trying to open the bedroom door. She looked out of the window, and by the brightness the day had probably not yet dawned completely. She sat up slowly, gritting her teeth with the pain that ran through her. She felt weak and unwell, but she didn't have the option to lie down and rest now. She looked quickly at Meredith, and stood up while she stroked her daughter's hair. The surgical instruments she had used for her postpartum were gone, and the table was farther from the door than she had left. Her heart raced with dread, and she thanked the heavens for both being well. She stopped beside the table, ready to break one of the object's legs and use it as a weapon against anyone.

“Gamora?” Adam's soft voice called softly.

“What you want?!” She asked menacingly, but in the same volume.

“I brought you something you need. Can I enter?”

“I don’t need anything.”

“I'm alone. I was the one who entered earlier. They sent me...”

“I know what you did.”

“Our leader wanted to send someone else, but they were all afraid. I was the only one left... They don't know that I'm here now. I got a reasonable reason to dismiss the guards temporarily.”

Gamora did not reply, trying to probe his intentions. She took a deep breath, trying to find the strength to remain standing.

“What you want?!”

“To help.”

She thought. Adam had been kind and respected her since the moment she woke up in a cell after five long and terrible lonely years at the soul stone. He was the only one who hadn't been cold or shown up just to keep her alive or irritate her, the one who actually seemed to care about her well being, despite the fact that she was a prisoner that his people wanted dead. Being kind and helping others seemed to be in his nature, which was completely out of step with all the other sovereigns. If Ayesha had actually created him to destroy the Guardians, Gamora could bet that her project had failed and that Peter would have an immense chance to convince Adam otherwise by talking to him the moment they were attacked, as he did at Kylin to prevent Drax from kill her. But she dismissed those thoughts, remembering that this kind of quick vote of confidence didn't match survival.

“Gamora?” He called again. “Everyone will be back in business in a few hours. Let me in.”

“Why should I trust you now?”

“Because nothing stops me from opening that unlocked door again and going in alone, but I’m waiting for you to authorize it.”

The zehoberi took a deep breath and held her stomach, squinting in pain and feeling freezing inside with the effort of standing.

“Get in before I regret it.”

The doorknob turned smoothly, and Adam went in and closed the door without making a sound, hurrying to grab her when she released the table and clearly showed that she was dizzy. The fear of passing out and leaving Meredith alone again gave her heart another thud as the golden man picked her up and carried her back to bed.

“Leave me,” she asked when he carefully laid her down and crouched beside the bed to stay at the same height as her.

“I know you're scared. I'm so sorry.”

Gamora was troubled by the confusion in her feelings that were between trusting or fearing Adam. He looked so innocent. And indeed he was, since he knew about so many complex things, but so little about normal life. And he was unusually kind, something that no sovereign was. The only thing that identified him as one of them was his color.

“What you want?”

“When I came early it was still dark, you were asleep, but restless. Your skin was very hot, it didn't look normal. You opened your eyes, but you couldn't pay attention to me, and you seemed to be in pain.”

Gamora immediately recognized the consequences of the effort she shouldn't have been doing alone after giving birth. Not to mention that her postpartum was done by herself. Maybe she did something wrong, or something should have been done and it wasn't.

“I brought you medicine. I don't know anything about your species, so I looked for compatible neutral drugs for most.”

Gamora looked at what he took out of his pocket, recognizing the medicines. They were common in pharmacies in Xandar and even had some of them in Benatar. One for pain and fever, another was a compound for hydration, and the other was a seemingly ordinary water bottle, but Gamora had already seen and asked one of the pharmacists what the function was, just out of curiosity, years ago. It was a Terran medicine, used to prevent postpartum infections in case there was any harmful residue left in the uterus, which was probably what was happening to her.

“How did you get this? How did you know what to bring? Sovereigns do not experience such problems.”

“I was sent to a nearby planet, which is only a few hours from here, to get to know the place a little. The priestess thinks this is good for my learning. In my spare time I looked for one... I think it's called a pharmacy.”

“Yeah...”

“The pharmacies there have a post office box delivery service. The place I was visiting had a lot of them. I didn't have to identify myself, so it wasn't difficult. I said what I needed, and that's what they brought.”

“Does Ayesha know that?”

“No.”

The two were silent as her mind sought an explanation for all of this, unsuccessfully.

“And I brought you one more thing,” Adam smiled. “A gift... Welcome to the baby. Although you will be the one to use it.”

Gamora looked at him even more confused, wondering how far it was possible to be surprised by Adam, and watched as he took a tiny device, smaller than the palm of a hand, completely black, with a display and a few buttons from another pocket. It looked like a mini data pad like the ones they used in Benatar to surf the holo net, make calls or take pictures.

“It doesn't look much like the ones we use here, and we're not very close to taking a lot of pictures, but I think you know.”

“It’s a mini data pad.”

“Yes. But this one is only for taking pictures. The storage is large enough to last for years, and you can save it on some digital platform if you have access to a network. Unfortunately, I can't give you that.”

“I know.”

Adam placed the small object in her hands, and Gamora felt tears burn her eyes with that small kindness in the chaos she was experiencing. But she clenched her teeth to contain her emotion.

“Why...?”

“Alia said that mothers like to take pictures of their babies, to have memories of what they were like when they grew up. I thought you would like it too.”

The zehoberi went silent and this time she was sure that Adam noticed the tears in her eyes, given the way he looked at her.

“Are you ok?”

Gamora just nodded and closed her hand around the small device, giving her reply that she was accepting the gift.

“What will she do to you if she finds out you did it? This can...”

“That's why I ask you to be careful, I know what can happen. I don't know what the priestess will do if she finds out. But I don't think she will be sympathetic to that. I couldn't see you the way you were, we thought it would make you happy.”

“Why... Does she trust you two so much?”

Adam seemed to think for a moment.

“Alia was raised from birth with the aim of being the successor to the priestess one day. They even thought of creating her as a direct descendant of her, but... The council thinks it's good to have totally different rulers from generation to generation. Each successor is trained by the one in power at the time in the way that the current ruler finds most convenient. And I...” he paused, as if he didn't mean it. “I was raised to...”

“I know,” Gamora spared him from finishing.

“But I... I don't agree with the priestess' methods, nor with her extreme and hasty decisions.”

“Alia is very different from what I can see.”

“Yes... Maybe one day she will make our people more kind.”

“That would be good.”

“Would be.”

“Why are you helping me?” Gamora asked when he got up to leave.

“I don't know. But I maintain my opinion that I find my people's hostility exaggerated. Do you... Need something for her?”

Gamora realized that he was talking about Meredith and was once again surprised by the level of ignorance of the sovereigns about babies.

“Until she is six months old, she will need nothing but me.”

In more than one mission the Guardians had helped mothers with babies, so Gamora had that knowledge. Adam nodded and left them. When he left, Gamora noticed that there was also food and water on the table, and sat down to check the medicines. They were perfectly sealed and authenticated. There was no sign of violation. She also checked if the mini camera didn't have any spy devices implanted, Rocket had taught it to find out, and she concluded that it didn't.

She opened the English water bottle and ingested the amount indicated on the back, hoping it would make her feel better soon. While Meredith slept, she ate and took the pain and fever pills with the water, and some of the hydrating compound, remembering to first check for any possible pitfalls that the sovereigns could have sent her through the meal. When she was done, Meredith continued to sleep. Gamora lay down while trying to endure the pain and fever still present, she would take a warm bath when she managed to stand up. She kept Adam's gift in a pocket in her clothes and pulled the blanket up to her chin, even though she knew it wouldn't help much with the cold caused by the fever. She suddenly found herself stroking one of her daughter's little hands and singing O-o-Child softly to the little one, feeling new tears welling up in her eyes as she remembered that the lyrics of that song didn't make any sense in her life at the moment.

“When you grow old enough... I'll find a way to get out of here. And if I need to kill that woman and all the damn advice, I will. Hopefully, there are still places where we can live outside.”

******

Gamora took a few moments to wake up completely, allowing herself to be calm when she realized that Meredith was still sleeping in front of her, one of the little hands still holding her thumb. She finally opened her eyes and smiled when she saw that her daughter was sleeping well, properly breathing and comfortable. She stroked the little fingers that held her thumb and realized that she felt much better than when she had fallen asleep, although still a little weak. She sat down and pushed the blanket over, watching the bedroom and noticing that apparently no one else had come in after Adam brought her medicine. She looked out of the tall window that faced the outside. By the light, it must have been close to noon. She had spent enough time in the planetary system of the sovereigns the first time she was here to get a sense of it.

After allowing herself to spend more than ten minutes watching Meredith sleep, she gently freed herself from the little girl's hand to find new clothes for bathing, deciding on the lighter clothes she had instead of a nightgown, and improvising a portable crib with the bathtub baby to keep Meredith in sight while in the shower, and she tried to block the door as best as possible before that. She placed the bathtub on the two chairs in the safest possible way, positioning them in a good angle of view in front of the bathroom door, always hiding the mini data pad where she thought it was the safest at the time.

She left the clothes she wore in the laundry basket in the bathroom, and allowed warm water to run over her skin. She still felt some of the cold from the fever, and the warmth of the water was comforting. She saw a trail of blood mixing with the water on the floor, fortunately very little, and all Gamora wanted was for it to be within the normal standards of childbirth. She was no longer in pain, and she didn't know if it was good or bad. Giving up worrying, she leaned against the wall, waiting for the water to return some of her strength. If Peter were here he would hold and pamper her, even she would let her sleep against him while they were underwater, it wouldn't be the first time.

“We need to get out of here.”

She washed her hair and cleaned herself then, unable to avoid looking outside all the time. After becoming a guardian, she had come to believe that she would never need to maintain such vigilance again. She finished as quickly as possible, dried and combed her hair and dressed, then tidied up the bathroom and everything she had moved. She was about to put Meredith back in the crib when she heard the little one start to cry. Gamora had identified patterns in her crying tones, it was different when she was hungry and when she needed a diaper change. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she seemed to be compatible with her guesses so far. And this one seemed to be from hunger.

“Shh...” she murmured softly when she took the baby out of the bathtub and hugged her to her chest, kissing her forehead as she arranged the bathtub and the chairs with her free hand. “Are you hungry?”

Another soft cry came in response, and Gamora sat on the bed, stretching her legs and leaning on the pillows. She placed Meredith in her arms and opened the clothe to offer the baby the breast. She took a deep breath and relaxed when she realized her daughter was comfortable and sucking to feed. Gamora had been concerned that the limitations of the prison wouldn't allow her body to generate enough milk for the baby. But at least she had been well fed, and her modifications would guarantee something anyway. From what she knew about her body, that wouldn't be a problem now, and not feeling pain while breastfeeding was probably a good sign.

Once again she got lost stroking the soft and blonde hair and watching her daughter. She was the cutest thing Gamora had ever seen, along with baby Groot. And despite how much like her, she couldn't help but wonder what Peter must have looked like when he was born, and whether her hair would change color in the future. He had once told her that earth babies who were born blond could turn ginger over time, or change their eye color over the months or years in some cases. She thought it unlikely that the color of her eyes would change, they were as brown as hers had been since birth, that was one of the few things she remembered her mother telling her.

“Your father said that his grandmother had golden hair. Perhaps yours will remain so. But anyway, just as he always spoke of her, you'll remain beautiful as an angel, my love.”

She played with one of the little girl's hands and she grabbed the thumb of her free hand, and Gamora wondered if Meredith was able to know or feel that she had referred to her. She continued her silent and comforting observation of her daughter, the only thing capable of bringing her peace today, and once again she took note of the pink tone on the end of the little girl's hair strands, just like hers.

“I'd be happy if you kept that,” she said stroking the colored threads. “But whatever it has to be. He lives in you. And I'm grateful for that.”

******

“Health care?” Alia was thoughtful while talking to Adam in the palace dining hall.

Lunchtime was past, and the place was empty. The golden walls, like almost the entire palace, stood out above the white floor adorned with golden arabesques. The tables were covered with waterproof navy blue towels. The two used to eat with Ayesha somewhere else, but were free to go wherever they wanted afterwards.

“Yes... I know we aren't aware of what she went through, but she lost a lot of blood. And she got sick after she had the baby. She had a fever and couldn't even stand alone when I went to see her. I don't know if this is normal, she doesn't say.”

“I don't think she would accept. Even if we took someone from the medical wing who agreed to keep quiet. She ended up with anything that could serve as a biological sample after birth. She cleaned the surgical instruments so well that the laboratory found no useful trace for analysis. She must be afraid.”

“It’s obvious.”

“And we should be too. If the High Priestess finds out that we're helping such a high-level prisoner without her knowledge, she could convict us for treason.”

“We have a defense.”

“What?”

“She wants her alive to condemn everyone at once. There are things that she needs that are being neglected, and luckily she lets me get close and help. If I didn't help she would have died that day or later. It seems to me that the High Priestess intended to leave her in the first cell that we put her in forever. You saw the blood, you saw everything. We don't know what happened, but it was serious, she got sick. She would have died without assistance. Or the baby would have.”

“You became attached to her.”

Alia's tone wasn't one of accusation or anger, it was a simple statement.

“This shouldn't happen. It was what our leader feared most, and when she realizes it, she will distance you from her and try to reprogram you. Do you see that? You should destroy her, not protect her.”

“Why? We never even heard them to know what really happened.”

“Convince her of that. Or buy time at least.”

“How?”

“She's an excellent warrior, and an honorable one, however much the pride of some of us may want to believe otherwise. We could use it on missions. It's more useful than keeping her stuck. And we would have some return in return for the resources spent on her and the child. If you convince her of this, you may be able to convince her to listen to others when they are found.”

“Makes sense. But the baby was born yesterday. She's very small and fragile from what we have seen. And she's not well.”

“Don't need to be right now. But if she knows that the prisoner has fallen ill, she'll want to know how she has improved.”

“I didn't tell anyone that I brought medicine from the planet where I went.”

“It was an emergency, you wouldn't say it anyway because there was no time. You kept the prisoner alive, you did what she wanted.”

The two were silent for a while.

“And you? You're practically her chaperone and trained to be a successor one day. Why are you helping?”

Alia tilted her head slightly, trying to find a logical answer.

“I don't know. I've seen many things on other planets, on missions. Very good people and very beautiful gestures, however much the Priestess considers them useless. I've seen children before, even though I know so little about them, and they're charming. I can't let her and the baby suffer.”

Adam smiled, and Alia smiled back.

“What do you want? Do you have a final goal with all this?” She asked.

“I never thought about it. But I feel that she's innocent. I felt it when she came back and I felt it the day I helped her, she loves the other Guardians more than anything, especially the human, she's suffering a lot for the lack of him, and she's not a liar. It's too hasty to condemn them without knowing the truth. And I don't think even she knows exactly how it happened.”

“Do you want to prove her innocence and set her free?”

“If possible.”

“And that strange child? That came after us.”

“We'll think about it later. Walking with Gamora across other planets can make it easier to find the rest of them. Before anyone else finds them.”

“This looks like suicide.”

“I know. But...”

“I know.”

Helping Gamora was a dangerous and uncertain path, but it was too late to go back.


	18. Agreement

“After all this time I still do not understand what went wrong in your common sense, but it is interesting how you can find plausible arguments,” Ayesha replied to Adam while the two and Alia were sitting in the meeting room, in addition to Ayesha's young advisor who used to assist her in space battles and security protocols.

“With all the tracking blockers we have on allied planets and ships, it would be safe. She has traveled to many places in the galaxy, has experience dealing with various types of people. I think it would be more advantageous for the kingdom's treasury to take advantage of her skills than to keep her trapped just by consuming resources,” Adam told her.

“It makes sense,” Ayesha commented, staying a long time in silence while reflecting. “But that would be an insult to the honor of our people. The Guardians must, and will pay.”

“High Priestess... If I may,” the young man who was analyzing various roles relating to a new model of armored unmanned ships looked up at the three. “I think the idea may have a good foundation and perhaps a good result. Including a prisoner in the missions would be unprecedented and foreign to our means of dealing with this type of situation, but if she generates some financial return, or simply stops generating expenses with no return, it would be a good way to compensate for the resources we lost years ago in the two battles against the Guardians of the Galaxy. We wouldn't be forgiving one of them, but offering a means of compensation for the act committed. And as stated in our laws, we cannot do anything against the child. If she really is as dependent on her mother as you told me, she'll die easily if we eliminate her. We have no idea if it's possible for someone so small and dependent to survive in the care of someone other than the one who generated her.”

“Could expanding her frontier bring us other risks? Like an unexpected encounter with those we haven't yet captured?” The priestess asked.

“Difficultly. Entry is controlled on our allied planets, although anyone with permission can come and go. In addition to the systems that block the trackers. It would be an agreement. Missions service for her life and staying with the child.”

“Who would take care of this baby during these periods?” Ayesha asked. “We have no knowledge on how to do this. And she has shown herself to be quite skittish to protect the child.”

“I don't think she'll agree to part with the baby. She'll want to take her along,” Alia said. “Our missions are only diplomatic or to collect resources or information, there will be no way for her or the baby to get hurt.”

“Someone so dependent could get in the way of the job.”

“She won't be ahead of anyone as far as I know, will she? This won't be a problem,” Adam told her. “And the baby is still very small. No more than a month. I think it would be risky to put her in this now.”

“And how long do you think it would take for the child to travel safely?”

“I have no idea. Maybe we can ask her.”

“It is not good to let her feel that she has control over this,” the eldest replied. “And it must be clear that escapes will not be tolerated. And neither does her access to any device or circumstance that allows her to attempt communication.”

“And how are we going to control this?” Alia asked.

“Any attempt will be considered a new transgression, and we will return to the old agreement.”

“If we go back... What will happen to the baby?”

“Before the execution, she will be taken to a tutor or family willing to create her. Somewhere free of the presence of more Guardians of the Galaxy. Especially since I intend to find the missing ones and condemn them all together.”

“Didn't you tell her they were dead?” Alia asked.

“I said they showed no sign of life. What is truth. But as soon as interplanetary communication systems are better repaired to compensate for damage and failure to update here and on other systems, it will be easier to find out.”

“What if everything goes well? Will we keep her as a member forever?”

“As far as is feasible,” Ayesha replied. “I leave it in your hands to settle these details,” she said to Alia. “And maybe you can convince her to become more peaceful in front of other members of our Community,” she told Adam. “What do you have to say?” She asked the counselor who occasionally stopped what he did to observe them.”

“I believe the council will be fine with that. But what will be done about the others when they are found?”

“They are rebels to the extreme. For now I propose that the initial plan be maintained for the others, especially for that strange animal that accompanies them.”

“But... If one of them is really the child's father?” Alia told her. “And she probably is. The girl looks very much like Mr. Quill. Will you keep it even for him?”

“So far the child looks good with just one parent. There is no reason to include him in this new agreement.”

“Do we even have any idea where they are?” The young man asked, looking up from his papers again.

“The communication systems of many places are still being restored as I said,” Ayesha said. “We are not sure yet.”

******

“Is it true that some of us are still curious to see the baby?”

Alia smiled.

“Yes. Despite how terrified everyone was with her screams and with everything we saw on the day of her birth... But every time someone comes near the door to try to hear, she throws something there and amazes everyone. She didn't tell us anything about the child's feeding,” Alia suddenly remembered.

“When I asked she just said that until the age of six months the baby doesn't need anything but herself.”

Adam saw his friend's expression show the same confusion as his when Gamora told him that, but soon she returned to normal and continued on to the bedroom where Gamora was being held.

“Do you think she'll accept that?”

“I don’t know...”

Adam waved to the two guards, who waved back and walked away. Then he heard sounds of moving water and murmurs of the baby as they approached the door. For a few minutes the two just listened, out of charm and curiosity. They heard Gamora laugh smootlhy and respond to the child softly, although it wasn't possible to understand what she was saying outside. Adam smiled, and finally knocked.

“Shh...” they heard Gamora whisper to the baby when the noise at the door made her shriek with agitation.

“Gamora,” Adam called. “It's us. We have a message from the High Priestess.”

A few seconds of silence followed.

“What does she have to say? That she decided to get rid of me in advance?”

“No. I think you might like the proposal.”

The two heard the zehoberi emit a sigh of disbelief and tiredness.

“Can we get in?”

“What could I do to stop you if I said no?”

The two sovereigns looked at each other and Adam turned the door handle, looking inside and seeing Gamora kneeling in front of the bed while drying the baby's blonde hair, dressed only in what Gamora called a diaper. The baby bath was on the table, still full, and the two waited patiently for the warrior to dress her daughter in the pink jumpsuit that Alia had brought from one of the shops on a nearby planet.

Gamora placed the baby towel in the laundry basket, the pieces of which were always collected, washed and returned to her the next day, and accommodated her daughter in the center of the bed next to the pillows so she could empty the bathtub.

“Let me help,” Adam asked.

She seemed to think for a moment, but she let him take the object to the bathroom and empty it, leaving it there to dry. When he returned to the bedroom, Gamora had her daughter huddled against her chest, while she held her protectively and moved slowly and smoothly with her in her lap. Her brown eyes were still open and alert, but the child was visibly calmer.

“Is it time for her to sleep?” Alia asked.

“No. She sleeps at the same times as we do, although she still has a hard time differentiating between day and night. And she's already dozed off today, she's hardly going to sleep now.”

The two stared at the little girl as she looked at them curiously.

“She doesn't look much like you,” Adam said, finally feeling the least bit of security to make such a comment to Gamora.

She didn't look angry, just... Cheerful, and then sad. Very sad. But in a moment she hid it and resumed her neutral expression.

“She looks like her father.”

“Can she understand what you say?” Alia wanted to know.

“Not yet. Very little. She understands the tone of voice more than the words now. What do you have to say to me?” Gamora asked before they asked more questions.

“Well... We've been thinking about something and made a suggestion to the Priestess about you. She accepted.”

Gamora took a deep breath to hide any trace of apprehension she might make evident, and decided to sit on the bed with Meredith, resting her back on the pillows and extending her legs, allowing the little one to lie on her while Gamora held her and stroked her hair. , a position that the baby seemed to enjoy from the first day of life, and something that Peter also loved that she did for him from time to time. She looked much more like her Star Lord than Gamora could have imagined, and she still hadn't been able to decide whether that would cause her comfort or sadness in such conditions.

“We think you could be of more use by contributing to simple missions of collecting information and replenishing supplies on nearby allied planets than ever trapped here.”

“And what could be better about that? It would just be an extension of that here. And I refuse to leave my daughter.”

“You can always take her with you - Alia said - If she can travel being so small. And your benefit in this agreement is your life. The Priestess is willing to withdraw the sentence if you agree. But she made it clear that she'll take it back if you commit any wrongdoing.”

Gamora raised an eyebrow questioningly.

“You still won't be able to move around the kingdom or leave here, but you can accompany us on missions, as long as you don't try to escape, communicate or threaten.”

“As I said, just an extension. And Meredith is still very small.”

“Is that her name?” Adam asked - You never told us. “I don't remember ever hearing it, but it has a beautiful sound.”

Gamora looked at him as she analyzed the sincerity in his words, finally showing him a slight smile.

“Thank you.”

“When can she travel?” He asked.

“I believe that six months would be the minimum time for her to be safe.”

“If you go with us you'll avoid the sentence. And you can search for items that you need for yourself.”

Gamora was silent for a long time while stroking her daughter's hair.

“Can i think about it?”

“I believe there is no harm in giving you time. She's only a month old now anyway,” Alia said.

The zehoberi nodded, and looked at her daughter when the baby moved and murmured, trying to get attention.

“If you'll excuse me, I need to feed her. And I would like to be alone with her for this.”

It took them a moment to answer.

“Okay. That's all we had to say” Alia said, already heading for the door.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked one more of so many times. “Does it hurt you?”

Gamora looked from him to her daughter, who was staring at her as she opened and closed her mouth, clearly hungry, and managing to be as cute as ever, making Gamora smile.

“No.”

Adam nodded, and followed Alia out of the bedroom, closing the door when the guards resumed their positions and he followed Alia along the corridor.

“Do you think she was telling the truth?”

“Why wouldn't she be?” She replied as they walked away.

“On the day of birth she told us to leave because it would be terrifying, and we saw the evidence later. Perhaps feeding a baby will also cause some suffering, even if it's not enough for her to cry.”

“It could be... She has a good resistance to pain. But I hope she has told the truth. We should have asked about what it will take to accommodate the baby in a ship.”

“We have time. She hasn't even answered us yet. And there are still five months ahead if she accepts.”

******

“We haven't listened to music while working,” Drax commented as they walked into Benatar after yet another battle won against common thugs in Xandar. “I think we missed a good opportunity to see your pathetic performances today, Quill.”

Peter smiled, enjoying his friend's attempt to cheer him up and one of the very rare moments that Drax seemed to make any normal comment.

“It may be,” he replied in a sad tone, although gentle, completely different from the Star Lord that everyone knew.

The others looked at each other, despite saying nothing, noticing the change, which was becoming more and more evident. With each passing month, both Benatar and the Quadrant and their battles became more silent and strange. Although he still carried the zune everywhere, Peter was rarely seen actually listening to music with it. Although his performance as a captain and on the missions didn't seem different, the heavy feeling of concern reached all of them.

No one else said anything as they headed for the deck and until they entered the Quadrant again, going to their rooms in Benatar to compose themselves before heading to the other ship. Rocket stopped as he passed the open door to Peter and Gamora's bedroom, and Nebula couldn't help but stop to find out what had made the Raccoon's eyes so tense. The zune was lying on the bed, Peter hadn't even taken it into battle this time. This was worrying.

The two looked at each other, they don't need to say anything to express what they thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Image credits for the staff/artists of "Mundo Mágico Reborn". I know the color of the outfit is different from the one Meredith uses in this chapter, but I can't resist this photo.


End file.
